Guardian
by Mattysones
Summary: Sent to protect a boy he thought he didn't know, Eiri discovers an old lie others hoped that was forgotten. ::UPDATE STARTS AT ch10::
1. Guardian

**Warning for whoever hasn't read this before: **

Name changes

age changes

slight inadvertant OOC (Tolerable ... but mostly regarding Shuuichi)

and definate AU.

Don't harrass me about the names. BUT never fear because their real names _will_ be back ... eventually. THERE'S A REASON. Reviews are greatly appriated and treasured so leave as many as you want. Flames will be laughed and mocked at. Suggestions and constructive critism will be framed and posted on my bedroom wall.

Is that it ...? Yep. Will you please give the story a chance::begs:

**Maiko Shindou- **(13) **Maggie Shoeman**

**Shuichi Shindou **- (16) **Shane Shoeman**

**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**

**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17) **Hilary (Hi) Nathan**

**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold **

**Eiri Uesugi **- (? looks 22) **Eric Hueman **

**Tohma Seguchi **- (?) **Tohma Seguchi**

**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15) **Sullivan Fulk**

**Taki Aizawa **- (18) **Taylor Ainsworth**

**Ma-kun** - (--) **Mark** **Kurt**

**Ken-chan** - (--)** Ken Chandler**

**Noriko Ukai **- (18) **Nova Upton**

**Claude K Winchester **- (? looks 25) **Claude K Winchester**

**Sakano** - (28) **Mr. Sakner**

**Ayaka Usami** - (?) **Ayla Usher**

Guardian

Eiri Uesugi was a Guardian Angel: an angel sent from the heavens above to protect whomever he was assigned and expected to preserve for some given amount of time. He could be seen should will wish for it, he could send movement impulses to the brain if it was to defend his charge from certain harm.

Eiri was normally assigned to the elderly or should a case be special; children below the age of ten. In no way had he ever been placed with a human between those ages, and he was perfectly content for the arrangements to remain thus. Teenagers were not what he considered in his 'usual catagory', and he had no desire to handle what he considered no more than hormonal animals otherwise.

Least of all did he want this particular child. While his superior seemed to have no intention of offering details as to -why- the previous Guardian had been driven away, Tohma Seguchi seemed mindset, though a bit reluctant, in forcing a very unhappy Eiri to watch the current gossip of Heaven. Angels had mortal traits too, and wild talk happened to be one of them. The details were never quite clear as most rumors would have it, but it had been passed around that the child was not quite as undesirable to Eiri Uesugi in a past life as he was now. Of course, the reluctant angel knew nothing about these rumors or why he was being moved to a different age group. It was not in his place to question any higher authority for the sake of an orderly Zion however, and all Eiri could consider at the moment was that he would much rather be doing something unproductive; such as experiencing another death.

"I'll have to decline."

Tohma sighed and rubbed a temple, a bit frustrated at the man sitting opposite his side of the brightly gleaming desk. "You don't have much of a choice Eiri."

"I have an opinion though, don't I?" Eiri scowled with his arms folded in an adolescent manner.

"Of course." The other man confirmed, "It just doesn't matter in this particular decision."

Since all other resources except explicit begging had been used in the past hour of bickering, Eiri felt resorting to childish whining could be his ultimatum at this point; he was not above such a tactic. "Why do I get this kid?" The grown man complained, "Not just any: an obnoxious, annoying, loud, screaming, whining one! Any other kind of child will do. Just not this one." Then the magic word felt need to slip from his protesting lips. "Please?"

The other sighed again and ran a hand through his unruly yellow hair, "I hate seeing you beg,"

A statement Eiri was currently doubting ...

"But I'm afraid you get this one." Tohma finished decidedly, and stared the other man in the eye until a reluctant grumble could be heard throughout the endless white room surrounding them.

"I understand." Eiri muttered and threw his hands in the air in a dramatic show of defeat. "What is the kid's name again?"

Tohma reached over and plucked a single sheet of paper from one of the many stacks littering his desk. 'Organized clutter' Tohma often fondly refered to his desk as. What the clutter actually was beyond information of millions of people; no one actually knew. "A Shane Shoeman. In Toadstone High School, America."

Eiri leaned back with folded arms and briefly considered a thought. "When do I get a first glance at him?" He asked, reluctance still lacing his speech.

Tohma frowned and chose a feather pen that sat randomly amongst his many papers and began scratching on the sheet still in his hands. "In two days." He informed. "You won't show yourself for awhile though. Not until you're familiar with him."

The lesser angel frowned and tugged absent mindedly at the white sleeves draping his arms. "Since I'll be invisible for the time being, do I have to wear those damn wings?" He found the steriotypical wings he was constantly made to wear extremely annoying. The white feathered things only seemed to serve hinder his movement when his location happened to be diminutive.

Tohma rolled his eyes but continued writing, "Yes, you know the dress code."

Eiri scowled, "What's the point in them anyway?"

"For effect."

"But my unveracious beauty should be enough." He replied dryly.

"You have to wear them. Invisible or not," Tohma glanced up from his absorbing task. "an unknown, nearby angel has to know your purpose for being there and vice versa." He said as he waved his pen in lecture. "You know the problems that may arise if they think you're a demon ..."

The short version was: demons can easily appear as angels. Eiri knew that this answer was the end of their conversation and would revieve no more humoring. He watched as the paper that had been scrawled upon was rolled into a neat cylinder and briefly shimmered gold before it burst into speckled dots amidst Tohma's palm.

The placid blond offered a smile. "I hope there are no problems with this one." Sympathy enlaced his speech, "From what I read about him he really is a nice boy, just some head issues ..."

Eiri snorted and stood impatiently from his chair. "Just watch Seguchi, he'll be more trouble than he's worth."

In its delightful lure from Dreamland the comforting scent of breakfast reached him. It was a very pleasant way to wake. No annoying alarm clock, no prodding mothers or screeching sisters or insistent phone calls at a time vampires would still be awake. Non of that: simply waking in a steady doze because the amount of sleep recieved had been enough.

"SHANE! GET UP! IT'S ALMOST NINE-A-CLOCK!"

So much for screeching sisters that made nine-o-clock sound as though that was late for a Saturday. Shane groaned, grabbing his pillow and pulling it over his head to block out the suddenly annoying sounds. He could skip breakfast if it meant sleeping in; he wasn't supposed to meet Ryan until 12:00 anyway. Three extra glorious hours of sleep ...

His bedroom door suddenly swung open.

"UP UP UP!"

Oh, be gone irritating person that brings irritating sounds ... "Go away Maggie ... not right now ..." He mumbled grumpily into his mattress.

Maggie bore a prankish smile and kicked the bed her brother was buried in. "C'mon, you're supposed to give me a ride to my piano lessons, remember?" She accented this by shaking the bed more with a sock covered foot.

Underneath the pillow Shane stuck his tongue at her. "Why not mom or dad?" Asked his muffled voice.

She tilted her head sideways, and considered this for a brief moment. "They both work all day today."

The boy's frown could be heard in his speech as he attempted to resist Maggie's logic. "It's only a mile away. You could walk."

"You haven't eaten yet, you still need to get dressed, I still need to get dressed, it would take a half an hour to walk and you take longer in the bathroom then I do."

Shane sighed in defeat, and as he sat up he threw back his covers with the intent of hitting Maggie with them just to be obnoxious.

"You ass!" She cried indignantly.

The older boy laughed, stretching his arms before grabbing a pair of jeans off the floor. He smirked over his shoulder, wiggling his boxer covered rear. "Yes. I have a very nice one."

"I'll kick it. And your beating will be painful."

Ryan Satterfield glanced at his watch for the umpteenth time in the past fifteen minutes. Shane was late: again! Not that he should be surprised, but he didn't have all day to wait around after all. Ryan pouted at the worn pink bunny sitting in his lap. Teddy was getting annoyed also. What was that Teddy? Sock him once in the face as soon as he gets here? No, that's not nice: he has to look pretty for when we go on stage. You're right ... he might look better with a black eye. Oh look! A robin!

Ryan attentively watched from a park bench as a robin fluttered from tree to tree. The park he was in was rather large; brick sidewalks splayed from the huge water fountain in the center of the nature scenes, trees littered the area but not at random. It even had a hedge maze and a small man-made meadow.

"RYAN!"

His eyes widened when he heard his name in the distance. The blue-eyed boy turned to see Shane running clumsily, nearly tripping over his own feet as blond hair spilled over his face. The running wreck reached the other gasping for breath with his his black jacket hanging over his shoulders.

Ryan remained silent for a moment before he bemusedly stated, "You bleached it again."

"Just...washed it...out." Shane wheezed.

"Your following will miss the blue."

"I'm thinking of pink next."

Ryan immediately hopped from his bench enthusiastically. "Pink! Like Teddy?" He asked childishly, holding out the bunny.

Shane laughed, "Yeah, like Teddy."

Ryan nodded his approval then gave the other boy a friendly pat on the back, "C'mon, I gotta get to the store before they decide I'm not coming." The currently-blond boy shook his head in agreement. There were a few moments of comfortable silence before Shane suddenly thought of an important question.

"You brought the money right?" He asked, and turned to look at the one walking next to him.

Ryan halted in his tracks. "Umm..." The younger of the two rolled his eyes as Ryan began searching his many pockets.

Eiri silently scowled to himself as he violently wrote in the worn notebook lying in his lap. The glare he was directing at it would make a passer-by think his anger was at the paper itself. However, the paper was in no way the cause for his frustration, it was merely a vent; the conversation with Tohma was still bothering him. Why did he have to get a teenager? The last one he dealt with was over five hundred years ago. And he had nearly killed the boy: literally. Eiri let out an exasperated breath, setting down his pen on the abused notebook.

"Looking intense there."

The blond glanced up at the boy standing before him. He wore a wide grin with his hands planted on his hips. He was a very pretty boy with short jet black hair and friendly dark eyes that sparkled with amusement. One looking from elsewhere could see immeadiatly that the two angel's faces were nearly clones, though Eiri had never given that fact a second thought. It had never been an important question. Along with his arrogant grin the other wore wings, that he proudly displaying and flaunting the four layers that marked him as 'on the job'.

"What do you want, Thaddeus?"

Thaddeus pouted, feigning innocence. "Here I try to be friendly and you go all crabby on me." Eiri raised an accusing eyebrow, provoking a hearty laugh to escape the other angel's lips, "I saw you storming out of Tohma's office grumbling to yourself and I was curious. That and you only seem to come to the lounge when you're annoyed."

"Is that all?" The blond grunted.

"What happened?" The black haired boy inquired honestly.

Eiri looked away, to hide the self-pitiying expression he was indulging himself in, "I got the Shoeman brat." he muttered irrately, and ducked his head to return to the important task of writing.

Thaddeus' mouth formed an 'O' of sympathy before twisting into an amused smirk. "Wow, Gloria herself was driven batty with that guy."

"You're not helping." Eiri scowled.

"When do you see him?"

"Monday, their time."

Thaddeus' lips twitched restraintedly, "Wanna see him earlier?"

Eiri looked from his notebook. "What?"

The one annoying him grinned again. "Oh, you don't remember? I was with her half the time. I watch Shoeman's friend Ryan Satterfield." Eiri's curiosity rapidly began getting the best of him. Damn the smart aleck for actually knowing what he was talking about. For the sake of pride, he did not ask the questions bothering him and looked back at his notebook.

Thaddeus laughed, sitting next to Eiri and made himself comfortable. "From what I see almost every day he's altogether an idiot. An honest idiot at that occasionally shows some beam of intelligence . . ." The boy glanced at Eiri to make sure he was listening. He chuckled again as the other man again pretended not to show interest.

"He has this thing of changing his hair color every week . . ." He paused for a moment. "Right now Ryan and him are close friends and they have a band with this girl named Nova. I think they called it Stress...anyway. I can't really tell you much about his personal life besides Ryan; except he lives with his mom and sister, he's a talkative quiet guy, if that makes any sense, and altogether friendly."

Eiri's eyebrows furrowed with his frown, "So as soon as I have to talk to him in person he won't shut up. Right?" An enthusiastic nod was his answer. Eiri sighed and tucked his pen in the loops of the notebook and shut it, "So what about that seeing him earlier than planned?" He asked.

Thaddeus linked his arms behind his head, a thoughtful expression crossing his face, "Well, I could tell Tohma that I wanted to show you the layout of the town..."

The blond rolled his eyes, "Tohma's not that stupid. You might as well just say I'm sneaking a peek. At least that's believable." Thaddeus smirked, glancing at the other from the corner of his eye, "I don't think it really matters. After all, he's pretty lenient with you..."

A glare from Eiri cut him short. "Don't even bring up old rumors boy..." Eiri growled.

"Boy?" Thaddeus snickered, "I'm older than you."

"And then we have that life experience factor."

"I still know more about this place then you do." The brunet retorted.  
"No wonder you were murdered. You probably provoked the guy."

The accusation did not seem to bother Thaddeus in the slightest. "There was never any evidence saying I didn't." The boy laughed. Eiri shrugged, not agreeing, not disagreeing. Thaddeus snickered quietly, stood and stretched his arms.

"I'll see you later then. I'll even go fill out the paper work because I'm such a nice guy." He said with a wink.

The man still sitting frowned suspiciously. "What do you want in return? I know you don't do things for free."

Thaddeus was already walking. He glanced over his shoulder with a grin not befitting of an angel. "I'll just write a rain check and get back to you on that."

Eiri watched the other's body glow gold and disappear. The lounge was suddenly empty, nothing but white surrounding the angel in its vast loneliness. He sighed and slidi his fingers through his yellow hair as a reluctant sign he was actually missing Thaddeus' presence already. 'Time for a nap until he gets back I guess . . .'

Eiri stood, eyes closed and quietly muttered to himself. His body glowed silver and dissipated into nothingness, leaving the white space to ponder to itself in emptiness; an emptiness that would surely drive one insane should they have been abandoned in its warm depths.


	2. Trustee

**AN:** Gah! This one is semi-boring and short. -- It's more of a filler / I didn't want to make the first chapter longer than I usually do so it's an extension, but it must be done!

R & R please.

If you flame I'll laugh. If you constructively criticize, I'll give you candy.

Kloudy Reignfall - I took your idea? Whatever. You took my idea! :smile: Just kidding. Hope you like the next chapter . . .

MC-88 - ::scolds for laziness:: Are you thinking of Let the Blood Flow? Eiri was an angel in that one too. Well, if you haven't read it, you should anyway . . .

Imhotep Ardeth Bey - Thanxs for the critism like I said 5 times in that e-mail. ::smile:: It nearly made me cry after recieving mostly ego stroking reviews from both sites I post at. Please continue to make me cry . . . for the good of my fics. And no one should click the back button!! That hurts!

Joonie - There are other 'guardian angel' plots? Where?!

Kiyuu - Thanxs for pointing out the diologe. I really didn't realize it was so confusing . . .

Kiyuu and Imhotep; here's your candy. ::pocky and strawberries all around::

And true to my word; Kloudy Reignfall and MC-88, ::glomp:: you both have recieved e-affection! ::more glomps:: You'll both have to wait for answers however . . .

**Disclaimer:** You all guessed. Along with my Muse Charles, I own Gravitation. Obviously. I mean, how could you not know I owned it? I'm a teenage genius for Christ sakes. Ok, I'm being sarcastic. But you can't have Charles. Charles is mine. But you can write fanfiction about Charles if you wish.

**Maiko Shindou- **(13) **Maggie Shoeman**

**Shuichi Shindou **- (16) **Shane Shoeman**

**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**

**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17) **Hilary (Hi) Nathan**

**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (?? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold **

**Eiri Uesugi **- (?? looks 22) **Eric Hueman **

**Tohma Seguchi **- (??) **Tod Sutton **

**Mika Seguchi- **(--) **Mira Sears **

**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15) **Sullivan Fulk**

**Taki Aizawa **- (18) **Taylor Ainsworth**

**Ma-kun** - (--) **Mark** **Kurt**

**Ken-chan** - (--)** Ken Chandler**

**Noriko Ukai **- (18) **Nova Upton**

**Claude K Winchester **- (--) **Claude K Winchester**

**Sakano** - (--) **Mr. Sakner**

**Yuki Kitazawa** - (--) **Yale Kitterman**

**Ayaka Usami** - (--) **Ayla Usher**

The First and a Half

Maggie Shoeman sighed as she watched her brother bent over the bathtub with his head under the faucet. Her arms were filled with bottles and a towel, which were quickly becoming heavy with time.

"How much longer are you going to take?" Maggie huffed. Shane paused in his scrubbing to look at her, "As long as there's still pink in the water." He returned to squeezing out the loose dye from his strands.

"You're using up all the warm water!"

"I'm almost done."

Maggie quickly resorted to Annoying Little Sister Mode, whining about Shane's habits, poking him the sides, only to be batted at with a pink-covered hand, and raising her voice to an unbearable level. Shane responded by turning the water so it came out heavier and louder. The girl pouted to herself as she realized Shane had become near immune to her insistent prodding.

Finally he turned the water off, grabbing the towel he had set next to him and wrapping his hair with it. He moved to see Maggie still leaning impatiently against the bathroom doorway with her arms crossed, having set her things on the toilet.

"So why did you come home so early? I thought you were going the music store with Ryan." She asked as Shane rubbed his hair dry. Shane's lips twitched with amusement, "We were but he forgot the money." Maggie's eyebrows raised, "You lost the amps then?" "Actually no, we ran like hell to get there and managed to talk the manager into giving us until Monday." He ran his fingers through his hair, checking to make sure it was dry enough.

"But this will be the third time you've asked for an extension."

"He raised the price $20 as punishment."

"Ryan doesn't get paid until Friday."

Shane shook his head, "I'm lending it to him." Maggie laughed, "You'll never see it again." A chuckle was her answer. "Yeah, along with that other $500." "You kept a tab?" Shane stood to look in the mirror, raising an eyebrow at what he saw, "After a while . . . yeah . . ." He tilted his head at the reflection. Maggie studied her brother and the new color for a moment, "It looks good actually." Shane frowned, "You think?"

Maggie slipped behind him, pushing his shoulders and out the bathroom, "Yes. If it gets you out of the bathroom. Now get! You'd better tell Nova you didn't get the amps like you said." Shane wrinkled his nose at her over his shoulder, before being greeted by a shut bathroom door.

"Midget!!" He yelled at the door. A laugh came from inside.

Eiri felt as though his own breath would chill him as he released it into the biting air. Thaddeus stood beside him, chuckling lightly, sipping on a steaming cup of something while he stayed cozy inside his jacket.

"You could have told me it would be this cold." Eiri hissed, pulling the long sleeves of his flimsy shirt lower. Thaddeus only giggled and returned to nursing his drink.

"So what do you think of him?" The impish angel asked after a moment. Eiri glared at him, "Besides being an idiot? I'd rather watch that Ryan guy . . ." Thaddeus looked up thoughtfully into the blueish, black sky that twinkled with vague stars. "Oh come now, he's not that bad." He chuckled again, handing his cup to Eiri. The blonde eyed it warily before grabbing it and taking a sip.

"Have you thought of a name to use here yet?" Thaddeus began walking from the sidewalk they were on and into the park, if anything to get Eiri to stop complaining about the cold with his physical protests. Eiri shrugged, "I'll probably use what I did last time." "Eric?" The other asked.

Eiri nodded, wrapping his fingers around the still warm mug. "What about your guise?" "Tohma hasn't told me yet." Eiri frowned, "We're not really supposed to here anyway, I probably won't find out until the day before."

Thaddeus nodded his understanding, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. They were indeed in the human realm, walking as though they were still alive. They could have remained unknown to the world but sometimes one became tired of invisibility. Being able to feel cold reminded them of their own humanity. Being able to feel physically reminded them. Being seen reminded them. As painful as Thaddeus sure it was for Eiri to be walking in freezing air, he probably did not mind as much as he let on. He could feel. That was all that mattered.

Thaddeus shivered as a chilling breeze brushed by. "We'd better get going," He murmered, "They'll start wondering were we are." Eiri nodded, though some reluctance shown in his eyes. They stopped in their walking, both looking around and making sure no one could see them.

Thaddeus took in a deep breath, closing his eyes and tilting his face to the sky. An almost ghost like sphere surrounded the two, blending nearly perfectly with their surroundings. Their very substance lost stability in the sphere, erasing them from their places in the world. In mere moments the brick sidewalk was empty, leaving no trace that two men had been standing there before.

"Can I be sure to trust you with this?" Tohma asked smoothly. He gazed indifferently at different papers as he spoke, giving the implication he did not really care what the respondents's answer was. A pair of piercing blue eyes smiled, ignoring the aloofness in the man before them.

"Of course you can. I'm not the best shot down there for nothing." A confidant voice returned cheerfully. Tohma looked up, amusement playing across his features, "I'll be watching you from time to time, remember that." A great laugh sounded, "Of course Tohma _san_, I wouldn't expect you not to. That'd be out of character for you wouldn't it?"

Tohma chuckled quietly, raising his face directly to the boisterous voice across from him, "Just be sure not to blow your cover. I'm afraid I'll have a very angry Eiri chasing me from now to eternity." Another laugh came, followed by an amused 'hn', "Incognito. Got it. Don't worry Tohma, mister Eiri is safe, and he won't know I'm playing guardian to the guardian." The voice finally settled into a serious tone, "Although I don't feel you need to be watching him so closely. He's a big boy after all, despite what you may think . . ."

Tohma's eyes narrowed, his lips pressing into a thin line. He returned to shuffling his precious papers around his desk. The voice however, never one to let the moment get dull switched its tone quickly enough, "I'll let you know what's up from time to time. If anything serious happens let you know, and if all's well after a year my service is no longer needed. Right?" Tohma nodded absent mindedly, only pausing in his busy-work as the shifting of a chair indicated the voice's body standing.

"This will be the start of a beautiful relationship, I'm sure." The voice said cheerfully.

The blonde smiled evenly, looking up to the grinning face before him.

"I'm sure it will be Mr. Winchester."

_I have always believed there is someone watching over you. They may beside you, unknown or a__ friend you have known for years. It could be your parents, a teacher . . . anyone could be your __guardian angel. Someone who will always be there for you, at least to comfort with their presence._

_I don't know who mine was, but it was there for me since I could remember. __After running home crying, ignoring my sister's pleads to talk, and my mother's questions, I would __curl up under my covers and stay there the night thinking no one cared, no one would come after __I repeatedly told them to leave._

_I didn't want them to go. Really. I wanted them to follow me, and force their company. I hate being__ alone. I can't stand it._

_Huddled under my covers however, I could feel someone watching me._

_Not that creepy stalker feeling, not at all._

_But someone with kind eyes and understanding. That someone would have taken me in their arms __and held me and whispered sweet words if they could have. They would have let me cry and say what __I needed to._

_With knowing someone was watching me, even if I couldn't see them, that feeling was what kept me aliveduring my s__hort life on earth . . ._


	3. Overseer

AN: Hmm, I was focusing on Eiri last two chapters . . . so I'm probably going to stay more around Shane for awhile. Plot reasons . . . Don't worry. There will be plenty of angel Eiri action. XD Double entendre!  
And Hiro fans, he will arrive soon, so don't worry about him . . . ::bows to Hiro::

Thank you everyone who's been reviewing, keep them coming and maybe that means faster updates. :) Well ... just more incentive to update anyway ...

I worked very very very hard on this chapter. ::nod:: The writing's alot different, but to me; alot better than the last two chapters. My beta is a godsend by the way . . . she is my second muse . . .

**Maiko Shindou**- (13) **Maggie Shoeman**  
**Shuichi Shindou** - (16) **Shane Shoeman**  
**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**  
**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17)** Hilary (Hi) Nathan**  
**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (?? looks 16)** Thaddeus (Tad) Understold**  
**Eiri Uesugi** - (?? looks 22)** Eric Hueman**  
**Tohma Seguchi** - (??)** Tohma Seguchi**  
**Mika Seguchi- **(--) **Mira Sears **  
**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15)** Sullivan Fulk **  
**Taki Aizawa** - (18)** Taylor Ainsworth **  
**Ma-kun** - (--)** Mark Kurt **  
**Ken-chan** - (--)  
**Ken Chandler**  
**Noriko Ukai** - (18) **Nova Upton **  
**Claude K Winchester** - (--)  
**Sakano** - (--)** Mr. Sakner**  
**Yuki Kitazawa** - (--)** Yale Kitterman **  
**Ayaka Usami **- (--) **Ayla Usher**

The Second

Days can always be categorized by their position in the week. Wednesday is usually an alright day, after all it is in the middle of the school week; then, the tiredness of Monday and Tuesday really hit you. Thursday is your friend: It's very close to Friday, only one day off, but no one really appreciates Thursday because she is inferior to Friday. So, like Tuesday, Thursday is a work day. Of course, everyone loves Friday: you can stay up all night and not be chastised for it. The same goes for Saturday, only one would have to be careful of Sunday. One might piss people off if they have a hangover at church. Hence, rarely a person looks forward to Sunday.

Then there's Monday: good old Monday. No one likes Monday; Monday has a habit of sneaking up on you when you least want it and never fails to present the rest of the week's problems. Monday likes to trick people into false security.

Shane awoke hating Monday, knowing for sure that this week's routine would be nothing special and the normal drama would occur.

On cue at 6:25 AM, Maggie's voice pierced at him, and he reflexively threw his alarm clock at his closed door. At 6:31 Ryan called to bother him into waking and to not forget to pick him up. 6:51 was 'stare-blankly-at-the-wall-while-eating-a-bowl-of-cereal-time.' By 7:09 Shane had his backpack over his shoulder and was trudging begrudgingly to his beaten up car that looked disturbingly like a silver taped together shoe box. At 7:16 he was trying to remember which way was 'left'.

After making several right-hand turns, he found his way to Ryan's house and proceeded to slam his palm on the horn to get the lazy child outside. After a whole two minutes of a steady honk, Ryan ran out the front door with his middle finger up and a deadly glare on his face.

7:36 involved much speeding and running a couple of red lights in order to make it in time for school at 7:47 AM.

7:48; Ryan and Shane said their goodbyes and dashed off to their respective classes while the school intercom fizzled with the principle's voice happily announcing the fact today was the beginning of another week.  
_  
"Good morning students of Toadstone High. Today is another wonderful Monday that I'm sure you are all looking forward to."_

Shane walked into the classroom appearing slightly disheveled but managing a sarcastic 'Wee! Monday!' as he sat and lay his head down.  
_  
"There are some announcements today that apply to everyone and not just the jocks . . ."  
_  
"You're late mister Shoeman." A dry voice commented from his desk. All that one could see of the teacher was the top of his brown hair as he scribbled in a planner notebook. Shane smiled,

"So is Ryan, Mister Swartz." He responded. Mr. Swartz chuckled, turning his chair to face the computer, clicking around on his screen.  
_  
"We will be getting three transfer students this week. Two from England and one just moving in from California, so please wel . . ."  
_  
Mr. Swartz looked at the boy pointedly, "One more tardy and I'll have to give you detention for three days." Shane shrugged, earning a couple of giggles from the girls beside him.  
"Actually I should have had detention five tardys ago." The pink-haired boy said with a grin.

_" . . . Nathan and Sullivan Fulk are in different . . ."_

The teacher smirked and began to comment before pausing at the next announcement.  
_  
"We will also be getting a new teacher today. We all know of Mr. Hongry's unfortunate accident a month ago. We finally received news he will not be returning for a long while and formally resigned due to medical reasons. His replacement will be Mr Winchester . . . huh?"  
_  
Everyone's attention was caught as a thump was heard over the intercom followed by obvious protests in the background. Scratching and shifting became audible in what could only be assumed to be the microphone being picked up. Nearly the whole school flinched as noisy vocals thundered in comparison to the principle's.  
_  
"GOOD MORNING STUDENTS!! I'll be Mr Hongry's replacement in World History for Freshmen and Froshomores! Now ignore the name Mr Sakner just gave you, if you don't call me K you'll receive an automatic F for the year!"  
_  
Shane could not stop gaping as an insane laugh followed K's statement. Of course he had the new wacko teacher today, he thought wearily. Monday was defiantly against him.  
_  
"I'm sure I'll get to know each and every one of you impressionable young students by the end of the month! Just look for the tallest man in the school with gorgeous blonde hair and you'll know exactly who I am so . . . oh come on Sakner, don't . . ."  
_  
More thumping, more distant arguing followed by an earsplitting gunshot.

Gunshot?

Mr Swartz was out of the room in seconds. The hallways could be heard with confused chatter as several other teachers left their rooms, running and talking over each other.

An amused laugh made itself heard.  
_  
" . . . don't worry people! No one is hurt! I use rubber bullets! So everyone have a nice day and learn something!"  
_  
The second bell went off, signaling everyone to leave their 'warm up' period and begin the school day for real. Not one moved for a moment before shrugging everything off as normal behavior, despite the obvious eccentricity of the newest teacher. Shane was not the only one wondering if the rest of this day would be this eventful...

"Alright class, since Wednesday will be the test we won't be doing any hard core cooking today. We're just gonna make a tuna casserole . . ."

With a murderous expression, Nova leaned over her counter to face Ryan who stood directly across from her. "What do you mean you didn't get the amps Saturday?" She hissed. Ryan smiled nervously, looking to Shane for help.

Pink hair faced purple as Shane turned and covered his mouth to avoid being heard, "He forgot the money again, but don't worry, we're going to the store right after school." Nova glared at Ryan for conformation, and the boy nodded violently in return. The girl sighed reluctantly, "You'd better have them by tomorrow . . ."

A quiet click of a doorknob followed by a knock was heard, capturing a few student's attention. The teacher paused in her directions, shuffling over to open the classroom door.

"Oh! Mr. Sakner!"

The easily flustered, black haired principle walked in with a noticeable bruise on his forehead.

"What the heck happened?" A boy asked from his table. Sakner looked at him, smiling weakly,

"Oh nothing, just a little mishap this morning..." He went on to ramble about blonde psychos to the cooking teacher, temporarily forgetting why he came in the first place.

Shane did not fail to notice a shadow slip after Mr Sakner. The shadow stood patiently behind the bruised principle with his arms neatly folded across his chest, looking around his new surroundings with apparently mild interest. His brown eyes took in every detail of the room then shifted to his new fellow peers, not excluding Shane with their brief, scrutinizing gaze.

The poor teacher let out a fake laugh before seeing the shadow oh-so-patiently waiting.

"And who is this?" She asked quickly. Mr. Sakner straitened his posture that had steadily turned into a depressed slump and pushed his thick glasses back on his nose. "Oh I'm sorry." He turned to the shadow, "This is Sullivan Fulk, the first exchange student from England I mentioned this morning."

Sullivan smiled politely at the teacher, who smiled in return, "Well hopefully you like cooking." She chirped cheerfully. The boy chuckled quietly, "Not especially but perhaps you'll change that."

Their voices faded as Shane quickly lost interest in their conversation, focusing his attention to Ryan who was playing with Teddy by the ears.

"Did you get your new sticks yet?" Shane asked. Ryan nodded absent mindedly, turning the stuffed bunny to engage in speech, "Teddy says these won't break so easily."

Nova rolled her eyes, playfully reaching over to poke Teddy in the nose, "Well hopefully maybe this time you won't use them as swords while fighting against the refrigerator." She said accusingly.

Ryan pouted at her, "Maybe this time Teddy will want to play drums on your keyboard. . ."

Nova scowled, "Even set a finger on my $900 keyboard and I'll show you pain in places you didn't know you had." Ryan released an indignant cry, grabbing Shane's arm with one hand and pointing at Nova with Teddy in the other, "She thinks just because she's a senior she's better than us and can threaten us!!" Shane began to reply only to be interrupted by a mock-evil laugh, "I am better than you because I'm a senior, 18 an a legal adult." She cackled.

Ryan stuck his tongue at her. Nova returned the gesture.

"Excuse me."

Shane nearly jumped from of his skin when he heard the quiet voice uncomfortably close to his ear. Nova smiled at the shock-inducing voice, "Oh, she sent you to our group?" Sullivan nodded, moving to the side of the square shaped counter that was not taken, "She said the class was uneven so yours was the only group made of three."

The teacher's voice rang throughout the room.

"Okay, with that out of the way, everyone, go get eggs! You should know how to make a tuna casserole by now so I'm trusting you to do this by yourselves."

The class immediately began talking and moving. Nova immediately began barking out orders.

"Shane, don't you even touch the food, you get the pots, strainer and that egg cutter thing. Ryan, don't touch the eggs but get the tuna and spaghetti. I'll go get the eggs." She turned to Sullivan, who seemed a bit taken aback at the female's dominance. Nova smiled. "You don't have to do anything since she probably won't make you take the test anyway."

Sullivan nodded deftly, watching as his new companions advanced to their respective jobs.

Eiri maintained the opinion yawning could be considered a hobby at the moment. Watching his charge during the school day was not the most exciting thing he could think of to do. Granted there had been brief excitement before saving Shane's feet from certain pain when precarious knives decided to jump from their cabinets; a few nudges had been in order to achieve the saving. Other than those eight occurrences, nothing was more dull.

He hovered above the boy cross legged, scribbling in his notebook, occasionally glancing down to make sure nothing sharp was going in Shane's general direction. At the moment the boy was placing a pot of water on the gas stove in the center of their counter, Ryan busied himself with opening the tuna cans and Nova watched them both with eagle eyes.

"Boring, isn't it?"

Eiri nearly yelped at the new voice. He looked beside himself to see a certain black haired angel floating along with him. Thaddeus' expression held just as much enthusiasm as the blonde's did.

"What on earth are you doing here?" Eiri hissed, unable to keep the surprise from his voice. Thaddeus glanced at him from the corner of his eye, amusement evident in his tone, "Oh, it's lunch time for my class so I slipped out to check on Ryan."

Eiri vaguely recalled that Thaddeus posed as a student at this very school. Substantially, he was dressed in 'normal' cloths at the moment; a white t-shirt and loose jeans. The only thing that marked him as an angel was the yellow hoop of a halo hanging above him.

Thaddeus raised an eyebrow, his gaze downward, an inquisitive noise coming from his throat, "Who's that kid just standing there?" Eiri looked at new boy, who was asking Nova if there was anything he could help with.

Nova laughed from below the two unknown beings, "Oh don't bother Sullivan, we have it."

Sullivan frowned, shifting with the discomfort of not being occupied. "Okay then . . ." He mumbled reluctantly. He watched while Ryan broke the dry spaghetti and stacked it as they waited for the water to boil. Sullivan ran his hand along the back of his neck, "So...excuse me if I'm wrong, but I thought I heard you talking about instruments when I was coming over."

Shane nodded from his place on a stool, "Yeah, we have a band. We're painfully local but I think we could make it." Ryan finished his task and pulled up his own seat, "We're still looking for a guitar player, can't have drums without a guitar player..." He nodded, as if prompting the other two for agreement.

Nova chuckled, "I make up for that, we really don't even need your drums." Ryan pouted at her, clutching his stuffed rabbit closer. Sullivan listened, eyes expressing interest, "Would you guys mind if I listened sometime?"

Shane's face immediately lit up at the prospect of an audience, "Yeah, we rehearse at least every Tuesday, if you wanted to come tomorrow."

Eiri frowned from above, "Do they at least sound good?" His eyebrows raised at Thaddeus' hesitant nod. "They're good . . . not the best but good." Thaddeus thought for a moment, "Let's put it this way, they won't break your eardrums while you listen." An exasperated huff of air left the blonde.

Suddenly a high pitched shriek of a beep wailed from inside his robes.

"Dammit." Eiri cursed. His white garments turned grey and shrunk into a generic looking work uniform. Thaddeus studied him for a moment then snickered with amusement, "You got the janitor job didn't you?"

Eiri scowled, demonstrating his middle finger before disappearing with a faint 'pop!'.

Thaddeus pulled his hand to his mouth and giggled to himself, thinking of ways to harass the other angel later for his misfortune in manual labor; a howl of pain quickly caught his attention. Tears streaming down his face in excessive amounts, Shane danced around his counter frantically clutching his hand, yowling like a banshee.

"I told you not to touch anything!!" Nova screamed as she chased the terrified pink haired boy around the counter. Shane cringed and released a whimper, "I was trying to help..."

"AND YOU STEAMED YOURSELF IN THE PROCESS!"

The teacher raced over, grabbing Shane's arm to check his hand. She released an exasperated breath at the boy's slight over-reaction. "You're fine, just go to the bathroom and run it under some cold water."

Shane nodded, tears finally ceasing in their turbulent decent.

K laughed out loud from the position on his empty desk, at the student's panic-stricken expressions. They all sat rigid in their seats, hands folded neatly on their desk tops, girls with their ankles crossed and boys with their feet flat on the ground. He had just finished a lecture on gun safety, showing everyone what and what not to do with safety catches on various pistols and submachine guns.

"Next I'm gonna show you how to clean a Civil War rifle!" The blonde substitute crowed.

A boy near the center of the room timidly raised his arm. K casually pointed the old rifle n his hands at the hapless child, "Question?"

The boy swallowed nervously, "Umm..well..I..I...thought y..you should kn..know w...we were the..wo..Women..Women's R-right's Movement...  
Those sitting around him either nodded frantically in agreement or scooted as far away as possible.

K lowered his rifle, placing a thoughtful finger upon his chin, "Hm, did it in anyway involve guns, explosions, violence, swords, death, destruction, giant robots, murder, suicide, injustice of people's general right to be human, torture, a really cool major battle scene, pandas, computers, a real development in history being important yet extremely boring, and or pain?"

The boy considered this for a moment, "Well besides being important but boring, no." K clapped his hands, swinging his legs from his desk, "THEN WE'RE NOT STUDYING IT!" He cheered happily.

K moved around his desk, grasping a piece of chalk and began an attempt to draw his rifle. "Now if there's one thing you never do with an old gun like this is . . ."

The class looked on with curiosity when he stopped in mid-sentence, their teacher becoming visibly tense as his fingers tightened around the chalk, his head turning toward the exit with a strained expression.

He glanced over his shoulder with a fraudulent smile, "Excuse me class, for a moment, I just remembered something." K set the chalk down with a quiet 'clink' and nearly jogged from the room.

Shane sighed, crumpling the brown paper towel in his hands throwing it into the garbage next to him. His left hand was still red and tingling after letting it hover too long over the pot of boiling water with the full intention of dropping spaghetti in it; consequently the rising steam had effectively burned him. At least the noodles had made it in.

He sighed again, studying his reflection in the water speckled Boy's Bathroom mirror. The image was slightly distorted, wavy in some places, abnormally horizontal in others and cracked along the edges. The mirror had certainly seen better days when it was still new; not subjected to carelessly splattered water and handfuls of wet toilet paper. Shane wondered absentmindedly what this mirror had seen, how many people had passed it without a second thought of the glass reflection's well-being or that this immobile object was perhaps watching everything that went on.

Maybe it laughed to itself watching petty fights that were important for that week, maybe it mourned for the distressed teenager that was going to hurt himself that night. Then maybe it simply sat there, staring at the wall across from it, wishing it had a more interesting job than looking at smug little boys with no idea how the real world worked.

Oh well, this mirror was condemned to stay in its place until somebody careless accidentally throws something and shatters the poor thing that had done nothing but sit there for at least ten years.

Shane frowned at the image of himself. His eyes were weird: they were supposed to be brown but were most defiantly a dark shade of purple. Not violet, but purple. Violet implied a light shade of blue, white and red. His eyes were obnoxiously purple that only looked brown in the right light. Unfortunately Shane did not control what angle the light streamed at his eyes and therefore most were taken by surprise by that annoying hue of purple.

Purple! Of all colors. At least he could claim albinism with pink.

He jumped as he heard the door open from outside and at the footsteps that followed.

Shane huffed, disappointed he would have to make it look like he was finished and leave after stalling for fifteen minutes. He nodded to let other know he was acknowledged in passing, quietly slipping from the bathroom.

The sudden waft of semi-fresh air from the school hallways reminded Shane how badly the bathrooms really smelled.

Walking in the direction of his classroom, Shane looked down at his burnt hand and ran his thumb over the palm, testing for sensitivity. He flinched. Being steamed with hot water was just as painful as being burnt with fire. It really hurt when it had finally registered that his hand was dangerously close to the saucepan!

He pouted, well aware of the teasing to come from Nova for the little incident, along with taking almost a half an hour to turn on a faucet, stick his hand under it and dry himself. Not that he really minded her teasing, it was all in good humor.

For the most part.

Sometimes Shane sensed honest irritation caused by his antics; which led him to wonder if Nova was just waiting for a chance to chew him out. It had occurred to Shane on more than one occasion that Nova finding his flaws was a pretense for her to separate him and Ryan. The other two had been close friends long before Shane had ever arrived. While Ryan accepted him without question, (the way Ryan accepted most things) Nova was not so quick to give the honor of her friendship.

After casually commenting on this little fact, Ryan merely laughed it off as 'tough love'; however, Shane had noticed a dramatic change in the way Nova presented herself around him not even a week later. The friendliness was not false though, and after having known them both for over three years, Shane felt he could go to her if he really needed to; he trusted Nova just as much as he trusted Ryan.

In the midst of his musing Shane failed to notice an obstacle that had not been in the hallway his first trip through. The obstacle's presence had been dully noted while Shane's eyes remained glued to the ground, watching his feet move and his heels scuff against the floor. The obstacle, on the contrary, had been very aware of a pink haired boy heading in its direction. It wondered if he was going to look up and sway from his path, watching warily as the boy's thoughtful expression became deeper with each step. The obstacle was understandably more than irritated when Shane walked right into it.

A surprised cry from Shane and the shattering of glass marked the obstacle's collapse.

"Damn brat. Watch where you're going!"

"Who you callin' a bra--"

Shane found himself unable to form words as he raised his face to meet a fierce pair of eyes that met his own glare with just as much, if not more, intensity. Instant infatuation; Shane moved his gaze from the stranger's eyes to study the face before him. Every gentle curve, every narrow angle was mapped to perfection. Even though flaws of the body were visible, there was certainly no other being who's flesh flowed so gracefully within itself.

There's no way this guy's a janitor . . .

The man stood with an annoyed grunt, frowning at the dumbfounded face below.

"See something you like brat?"

Beautiful but ugly . . .

The insult snapped Shane from his stupor, and he stood quickly, mouth more than ready to retort with some snide remark when loud crunching and a 'chinkling' sound caught his attention. He looked down to see the remnants of a light bulb that lay scattered hazardously along floor, as well as with a toppled step stool.

Shane sheepishly looked back at the scowling beauty. "Oh . . . I'm really sorry about this...I...uh..."

The man snorted before turning to retrieve something from a grey cart that sat off to the right, covered with various cleaning supplies; mostly involving buckets, bottles of undoubtedly toxic liquids, mops, rags and brooms.

Shane blinked when the taller man shoved a broom and dust pan into his hands. He dumbly looked from one item to the other before registering what he was expected to do.

"Hey..." He mumbled, trying to think of an excuse to leave, "I need to get back to class like...five minutes ago..."

Shane only received an irritated glare, "You make a mess you clean it brat. Same rules that apply in the lunch room." The man tossed some rogue strands of blonde hair from his eyes, leaning against the wall with a distracted gesture to the debris on the floor.

Knowing the other was in the right, Shane merely pouted as he swept up the mess. The moment that he was about to dump the waste into the trashbag that hung from the grey cart's handle loud, spaced footsteps that demanded attention made him look down the hallway.

A tall man with long blonde hair pulled into a pony tail that sat high on his head marched through the hallway with an insanely large smile plastered to his face. He hummed noisily to himself as he walked, occasionally glancing to the side to peer at the display cases students had set up.

With such a man cheerfully making his way through, Shane found himself pausing to see what he would do - if anything - once he passed. Predictably, the man stopped when he was about to walk by. The teacher ran a hand through bangs that refused to stay in the pony tail, quietly considering the situation as Shane remained frozen and the Janitor arched an eyebrow at this odd man's presence.

Finally the odd man laughed and faced the Janitor, amusement playing in his voice, "I didn't know delinquents were on clean up duty during school, eh..." The Teacher paused to look at the Janitor's name tag, "...Eric."

The Janitor now known as Eric frowned, "Only when the delinquent knocks me down and breaks glass on the floor."

The Teacher slapped Shane on the back with a light chuckle, "Breaking things huh? That's good enough reason to have him on clean up duty." He urged Shane toward the trashbag, "Well, while is nice we all have jobs so let's move along."

Shane nodded quickly, pouring shards into the trash before placing the dustpan back on the cart. The Teacher seemed insistent to make Shane leave, so with a final glance at the Janitor, he made his way back to his classroom.

Eric snorted, moving to gather the broom Shane had left against the wall and righting the ignored step stool. He glanced at the Teacher, who seemed to be pondering something.

"Can I help you?" He asked gruffly.

The Teacher blinked, focusing his gaze on Eric, "Oh, I was just think of how to say this." He stated absently, "I wouldn't have the students cleaning up messes during class time if I were you. Might get some parents bitching about it later."

Eric only offered a 'hmp', simply to let the other blonde know he had heard. The Teacher smiled, restarting his trek to wherever he was going. "Have a nice day."

"As nice a day as I can have."

Noisy laughter was his answer, footsteps fading in the distance.

Eric growled from his place back atop the step stool, "Damn klutz." He grumbled to himself as he screwed in a new light bulb, "Should have know he'd walk right into me." Eric pulled his hand back, "And that he'd manage to hurt himself when I wasn't around . . ." He resisted a chuckle, stepping down and resuming his undoubtedly boring day.

End Chapter Three


	4. Keeper

**AN**: Tuesday, then we move to Wednesday ... just to clarify any date confusion. . I'M SORRY I'M SUCH A SLOW WRITER! I'm sure you all were just waiting on the edge of your seats for an update. (Damn writer's block ...)

Even though this took so long, this chapter has obviously been rushed through. Please forgive the craptacular writing. Oh and note ... the name changes are below for a reason ... it helps with the confusion ... skim them ... please?

And ... Hiro was supposed to show up this chapter ... he realized that he had an appointment with some big shot magazine (Rolling Stone ... pfft! He could have ditched!) and had to cancel, but he promises to come next chapter! I told him he'd better, 'cause I might have a small mob of angry fan girls on my hands if he didn't. So Shuichi apologizes for his spacyness and Sakano said he'd make sure that that Palm Pilot of Hiro's was working. Of course I got threats from K saying I'd better keep the fans at bay ... (I heard from Shuichi though that Hiro got scolded by Tohma so no one should really threaten the poor guy for lack of organization skills)

Thanks everyone reviewing:huggles audience: Keep doing it!

**Maiko Shindou- **(13) **Maggie Shoeman**

**Shuichi Shindou **- (16) **Shane Shoeman**

**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**

**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17) **Hilary (Hi) Nathan**

**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold **

**Eiri Uesugi **- (? looks 22) **Eric Hueman **

**Tohma Seguchi **- (?) **Tohma Seguchi**

**Mika Seguchi- **(-) **Mira Sears **

**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15) **Sullivan Fulk**

**Taki Aizawa **- (18) **Taylor Ainsworth**

**Ma-kun** - (-) **Mark** **Kurt**

**Ken-chan** - (-)** Ken Chandler**

**Noriko Ukai **- (18) **Nova Upton**

**Claude K Winchester **- (? looks 25) **Claude K Winchester**

**Sakano** - (28) **Mr. Sakner**

**Yuki Kitazawa** - (-) **Yale Kitterman**

**Ayaka Usami** - (?) **Ayla Usher**

The Third (Revised Again)

Shane was greeted with two enthusiastic cheers as he walked up the driveway of Ryan's two story house. It was an unspoken rule for them to meet at the home of the hyper seventeen year old unless something drastic came about, like a hurricane or one of the three were deathly ill. Since neither of those reasons came about very often, the small band met in an equally small garage at least two days out of every week.

"NOVA DID IT! NOVA DID IT!" Ryan crowed, barreling down and tackling a surprised Shane to the cement.

"She got a boyfriend?" The semi surprised boy guessed.

"Even better!" The other declared from atop his younger friend, "She finished the music for the song you wrote!" Nova chose that time to make her dramatic appearance from the garage, a satisfied smirk on her face, hands raised in flourish.

"You both may now kiss my feet in gratitude." She grinned, gesturing to her designer shoes.

Ryan heartily raised his hand, "Already done!"

Shane quickly stood, knocking a mussed appearing Ryan to the ground

"Let's hear it then." He said, unable to contain his excitement; not that he would have in any circumstance. "I changed the lyrics a little so we might need to tweak it a bit," He added, "but I wanna hear it!"

The oldest of the three seemed to be feeling exuberant that day, for she turned and cried, "Let us go then! To see what the great Super Nova has prepared in her burst of creative light energy!"

"Go forth!" Ryan called happily, scrambling from his place on the ground and sprinting after his purple haired leader.

Shane grinned, closely following after the other two "Onward," He added, "For the shrew has overcome her writer's block!"

Nova shot him a dirty glance before settling behind her two keyboards arranged in an 'L' against a wall in the front right of the open garage. Shane ignored her threatening glare and sat cross-legged on what he assumed to be a clean section of cementdirectly next to his microphone stand. Ryan skipped to his drums on the far left of the small set-up, grinning like a maniac.

The young musician tweaked the settings on each keyboard for a few moments, finally pausing to make sure the singer of their group was paying attention. With a nod from Shane and a few taps from Ryan, Nova pressed the 'Play' button on each keyboardsending the beat to vibrate through the air.

Shane hummed along, murmuring his lyrics while the song played. Occasionally he would frown but could be seen quickly picking up where he left off. The timbre was upbeat but graceful, consisting of mostly piano and string noises that flowed and layered in time with the almost inaudible bass beat that kept tempo. The melody ended, drifting off with the final instruments.

Nova released a whoop of achievement, "Perfect! Is it not?" She cried. Ryan clapped his approval from his drums, glancing at Shane to join his applause. The sixteen year old seemed to be considering something in his mind before he looked up, still appearing reflective.

"Let's try it with me singing." He said shortly, standing to adjust his microphone. The garage grew tenseShane's indifference had not been the expected reaction from the other two. It was very rare for him to even hint that he did not like something Nova had composed: while Shane never hesitated to point out bits and pieces that would not work with the vocals, the amateur singer had never out right acted as though any song was not workable.

"Ready?" Nova asked. Shane responded with a quick nod. The aria waved through once again, this time accompanied by Ryan and the singer.

_Living the dreams I see today_

_it doesn't matter high or low._

_'Cause in the end it'll be alright_

_you'll see that it is fantasy._

_We are but phantoms, floating through the threads of reality -_

Everything was brought to an abrupt stop, as Ryan suddenly slammed violently against his drums.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" He demanded. "You weren't even trying to match Nova!" The unexpectedly angry boy glared dangerously at the dumbfounded singer, "The lyrics fit perfectly in my head but you're trying to make her melody go around _you_butchering what could be a half decent song!"

Ryan's words quickly registered his mind, sending Shane into a frustration fit, "If you think you can sing better than I can: go at it!" He stepped away from his microphone, gesturing almost sarcastically at the black stand, "Help yourself! I'd like to see you make it fit!"

The angered boy quickly stood, blustering to the spot Shane had pointed out. He glanced at Nova with irritation undisguised in his voice and face, "Start it." He ordered. Nova nodded, saying nothing against the brazen tone that she was not familiar to receiving.

As soon as Ryan heard his cue, the same words that Shane had stumbled over poured gracefully from his mouth. Every syllable that left him sent Shane cringing into himself at the ease his friend sang. Compared: Ryan made Shane look like a first grade student at a talent show.

The pink haired boy barely noticed the smug smirk on Ryan's face when he finished. He merely stared blankly before himself, leaning against the side of the garage. The other two waited for a response, but received non as Shane stood strait, walking mechanically down the driveway to his car hazardously parked on the sidewalk.

Nova and Ryan could only look at each other when their dumbfounded companion drove off without a single word.

Shane stared lifelessly at the grey mush that was supposedly to be his lunch sitting haplessly on molded plastic. He barely noticed the bustle about him; the gathering of people as each found their designated table. The world fell into the same confused monotone drone, blurring past him unacknowlaged.

"You look ecstatic."

The boy glanced up to the sarcastic voice beside him. Brown-eyed Sullivan Fulk looked down at him with a slight smirk on his face as he stood holding a lunch tray. In the two days that Shane had become acquainted to him, he learned quickly that despite his quiet natureSullivan was actually quite arrogant. Shane frowned unappreciatively. "Are you here to harass me?" He grumbled.

Sullivan frowned, slipping into a chair next to Shane in the eight seated circular table. "What's with you today? You were fine yesterday." The pink haired boy lifted a fork and began poking at what he assumed to be mashed potatoes.

"I'm leaving the band." He stated quietly. Sullivan gave an unsurprised glance as he attempted to chew his rubbery sandwich.

"Is this about that argument you and Ryan had?" He asked after swallowing.

Shane felt his fork slip from his fingers, falling with a loud 'clang' as he turned to the other boy with surprise etched on his features. Sullivan smirked again, "I saw it. I went to the address you gave me two days ago."

Shane blinked with confusion, "But ... I didn't see you at all ... where ?"

"The side of the garage." He answered easily. Sullivan returned to consuming his food, acting indifferent to the other's surprise. The silence that followed was heavy with Shane's apparent musing. His wasface screwed up with concentration leaving his food ignored as he seemed to be considering something important. Shane waited until the black haired boy's tray was empty to speak.

"So ..." He began slowly, "What did you think?" Sullivan studied him for moment, before turning to nitpick with the organization of his trash.

"You were all good ..." The boy said carefully, not sure of how his new acquaintance would react to an honest opinion.

"But ..." Shane filled in.

The smile that graced Sullivan's face was obviously practiced to perfection, meant to lessen the blow to whatever unfortunate being would be receiving his indirect insult. When that smile came to view, Shane became wary of the comment that was sure to flow bluntly from Sullivan's mouth. His wariness was not unneeded though it did little to soften the punch at his pride.

"Ryan and Nova are way out of your league."

Shane felt the sudden need to slam his head into a nearby wall with the hopes of plastering his brains as fresh paint. His emotions quickly ran wild. "DO I SUCK THAT MUCH?" He wailed. Sullivan could not hide his shock as the sixteen-year-old proceeded to break down in tears, ranting about his self-worth and inadequacy followed by fresh tears and even more raving.

Not one bothered to stop and ask what could be the matter. It seemed Sullivan was the only one who was confused at Shane's sudden mood-swing.

Finally the emotional child managed to calm down enough to form coherent sentences.

"And ... and ..." A sniffle "Why would Ryan not tell me! I mean ... he's my friend! It wouldn't have hurt my feelings if he had just told me he had a voice like that! He shouldn't be banging on drums! He should be kicking me off the stage for being a ... a ..." Shane's eyes quickly welled with tears once again. "A WANNA BE!"

Sullivan sighed dramatically as he realized Shane's state could last a very long time. He solved this problem by hitting the basket-case upside the head. The pink-haired wreck abruptly stopped his wailing from the pure shock of being struck.

"Finished?" Sullivan asked, voice laced with irritation. Shane nodded slowly, although his sniffling did not quite cease. The other leaned against his elbow, looking at Shane in the face to make sure he was listening. "Look, I didn't say you sucked. I said you were out of your league with the other two." Sullivan stated pointedly. "You need to work on it. That was my first thought when you started singing."

The authority in which Sullivan spoke forced Shane's attention to focus. He listened to every word that was said, and carefully stored the criticism for later consideration.

"After hearing Ryan," The black haired boy continued, "Maybe you knowing you need work on singing isn't such a bad thing."

"Huh?" Shane said dumbly.

"You have a rival now." Sullivan smirked, emphasizing his point. "A rival who is a lot better then you, and someone whose level you can place a goal on to achieve."

Shane turned away, staring blankly at the nearly empty table next to theirs. He almost did not want to accept the words coming from this near-stranger's mouth, but everything said was true: one of his best friends was now indeed his opponent. That small fact hurt; knowing someone he considered an equal had more talent in what he considered his forte.

Seemingly guessing at the thoughts slowly degrading his self-confidence, Sullivan cleared his throat to gain attention once again from his wandering audience. "But that also means you can't sit idle and do nothing but mope." He added nearly cheerfully. Shane raised an eyebrow, offering an doubting glance at the statement that certainly was not finished.

"Why don't you sing with me at the keyboards?"

Sullivan almost appeared hopeful as he patiently waited for an answer. The pink haired boy was a bit taken aback at the forwardness of the question; and in such a short span of time ... "Umm ... well ..." Shanedesperately attempted to collect his thoughtsonly to fail miserably.

The younger of the two brushed over the fluster effortlessly, "Of course I don't expect you to just say 'yes'. You'll probably want to hear what I can do first; which I totally understand. I'm not as good as Nova but I think you'll be impressed ..."

Shane let the other boy ramble at will, allowing his mind to become blissfully blank of any considerations he would have to face soon. 'An empty mind is a happy one ...' He uttered in his head.

This state of a comatose worked well for him until familiar, definite footsteps could be heard approaching. Still mindless and day dreaming, the boy reasoned that if he ignored the raging aura behind him, out of his sight: it would go away. Maybe the aura did not understand his reasoningas it was still surrounding him after nearly a minute.

Sullivan glanced nervously between the aura-that-did-not-exist and Shane repeatedly before nudging the one doing the ignoring on the shoulder. "Hey ... uh ... there's a really pissed looking ..." Shane held up a hand to insure silence.

"Shh ..." He hushed gleefully, "If I can't see her she can't hit me."

Pain followed the statement.

Clutching at his magenta scalp, Shane wailed pitifully once again, "What was that for!" He howled.

"Your stupidity!" Nova declared, smacking the boy again. "And still ..." Another strike; "For your stupidity."

"So mean ..." The abused child pouted, though it was more than obvious he was only playing.

Nova huffed irately, setting her hands on her hips. "We need to talk." She announced, standing as though she expected the boy to follow her.

Shane did not budge from his seat. "So talk." He mumbled. He was still not in the best of moods and didn't feel like being subjected to one of Nova's tirades alone. If she were in front of people while yelling at him, at least he would get the condensed version of her undoubtably planned scolding.

The purple haired girl glared at Sullivan who took that as a cue to dump his lunch tray. When the boy was out of ear-shot, Nova started. "Will you talk to Ryan?" The question came out more as an order than as a request. Shane frowned, turning back to his lunch tray.

"Why should I?" Reluctance evident in his voice.

"Because he's scared to death you hate him now."

Puzzlement crossed Shane's face, "Why would I hate him?" He asked, "If anything he should be mad I acted like a prick." Nova rolled her eyes in a 'well duh' gesture.

"Yeah, he should." She confirmed, "But he's not. He thinks you're still mad after you threw that hissy fit last night. If you would look over there ..." Nova pointed to a table in the far left corner of the cafeteria behind them, "He's practically having a hernia since he begged me not to come over."

Shane turned to see Ryan staring at them with a petrified expression. When the brown haired boy noticed Shane looking, he ducked behind Teddy and pretended to be interested in the empty wall across from him. Shane sighed, turning to face Nova in all her wrath. "Look, tell him I'm not angry, and that I'll speak to him tonight." At Nova's slight scowl, he quickly added: "I just need to think about a couple of things ... there's ..." He glanced at Sullivan in the distance, who was chatting with a red-headed boy near the trash cans.

"There's a lot of things happening at once, and I need to sort them out." He finished wearily. 'There really is for some reason ...', Shane established in his mind. 'And if feels like it's coming on too fast ...'

Nova's face softened with worry, as though she suddenly understood how tired her friend was. "Okay ... just ..." She leaned down, wrapping her arms around Shane's shoulders lightly in a comforting embrace. "Just don't leave Ryan hanging for too long. I hate seeing him paranoid like this." The pink haired boy smiled, knowing that was Nova**-**language for: 'Take your time, but tomorrow you owe me an explanation.'

He nodded, and Nova left him; most likely to relay his message to Ryan.

A few minutes later Sullivan returned, nearly skipping with happiness. "You won't believe what just happened!"

Shane fidgeted uncomfortably outside Ryan's house, playing and replaying what he was going to say over and over in his mind. He had called not even a half an hour earlier informing the brunet that he would be arriving on that fine Wednesday evening. The boy, instead, found himself admiring the weather, marveling how clear the sky was in its red-violet haze. The sun set quickly, (at least it seemed more prompt than normal) before flashing brilliantly to reveal the dim indistinctness of starless twilight.

The lights inside glittered more brightly than ere, intimidating the nervous singer despite their cheeriness. It took him several moments to register that the front door had opened, silhouetting a figure whom he recognized especially since it was the main cause for his restlessness.

"You've been standing there for ten minutes!" The figure called from its distance, "You'll get sick if you just stand there all night."

Shane knew, even though he couldn't see his face in the dark; Ryan was smiling like nothing had taken place.

Claude Winchester, a.k.a. K to almost everyone,was a nervous wreck as he made his way to his superior and current employer: Tohma Seguchi. Even angels had names, and Tohma's was one to be feared. K had known Seguchi for many, many years andwhile he was not particularly frightened of him hedid not especially want to be on the archangel's bad side. He was worried of this event happening for one reason, and only one: he had slipped up the job that had been specifically assigned to him.

Watch after Eiri and make sure nothing happens.

K had not expected for the teenager and his guardian angel to meet so prematurely. This was a big deal,as any human that has been freshly bestowed with a new guardian has habit of being able to 'sense' the foreign being at first.** I**f the two happen to meet earlier than planned this gives the human a feeling of deja vu. Deja vu was a very, extremely bad thing in this particular case. It also meant possible flash backs for the overly protected Eiri; that was what Tohma had been trying to prevent for several years.

As soon as K had recieved word that he had been summoned to the other blonde he knew word had quickly reached Seguchi while the angel was undoubtedly keeping close surveillance.

"Come in."

Had he knocked? K started when he realized he was standing before Seguchi's office door. Heaven had given the illusion of worldly objects to those that had once been alive. The mind could only comprehend so much after a lifetime of accepting what could be touched and seen. Even Seguchi most likely would not be able to grasp what really was around them should he be given the gift of seeing past the veils. Humans had the uncontrollable fate of being shrouded in apparition even after death.

The blond entered quietly, being sure of keeping the denotation of calm and collected. "I'm sure you already know." K asked as jovially as he could muster.

A slightly irritated glance from Tohma was his affirmative answer. "Yes, I know." He said dryly, returning to whatever work he always seemed swamped with. "I am also aware that it could not have been helped. You can not be in two places at once."

K considered briefly of responding with, 'But I am the all knowing God!' but quickly decided against it. Instead, he asked the question that had been stewing in his mind since the controversial event, "What do you think this means for the two of them?" Seguchi's response could greatly effect K's future decisions involving the task he had been given.

Tohma's attention shifted from his desk to the boisterous man standing across from him. "Honestly, I'm not sure." He said unvaryingly. "They did not have much contact and Eiri, at least, does not seem to be dwelling on the matter."

_'But the boy is ...'_ K concluded. Which meant he would definitely recognize Eiri when they met. That was not good. A guardian had to remain as detached as possible without losing their charge's trust. The reason for meeting in person was so if there was a situation that required individual, or any contact in the mortal realm the one being helped would have no reason to refuse. However, there was the problem of the mortal attempting to become _too_ close to their guardian ...

"What do you want me to do about the boy?" K had a vague guess at what his superior would say, but had an idea to throw onto Tohma's shiny desk.

Seguchi chuckled quietly, "Don't make it sound as though we have to get rid of him." He said in humor. "Just make be sure that they _do not_," The amusement fell from his eyes, "meet again. I have already been trying to find someone else take take Eiri's job since last week. I made protests from the beginning and -"

"What about Tats - er, Thaddeus?" K interjected quickly. From the surprised cast across Tohma's face, he knew the other angel had not considered it. He waited patiently as Tohma obviously mulled the thought over.

"No." He said at length, "The resemblance is too close. This has to look as a complete coincidence. Shane will forget in a short amount of time if they don't meet again." K felt something drop to the pit of his stomach. That feeling must have radiated, as Tohma quickly added: "This is a completely different situation. If it is taken care of quickly there will be nothing to worry about."

K just knew God was laughing at Tohma's attempts to change what had obviously been written.

_'The turnout will not be good ... events are destined to repeat themselves ...'_

"I had a strange dream last night ..."

Curious blue eyes blinked at him with surprise, "Huh? About what?"

Shane smiled, glancing away from the boy who seemed puzzled at his change in topics, "It was me ... but it wasn't me ... it was someone else ... in a different time, a different place." He drawled off in thought.

"And?" Ryan crawled across the bed the two were sitting on, kneeling beside the other who still refused to look at him.

"He was happy ..." The pink headed boy murmured. "Despite everything ..."

"What was 'everything'?" The question was not mocking, it was in honest curiosity.

Shane emitted a short snort before responding, "I don't know ... that's just it." He said with a touch of amusement.

"Hmm ..." Ryan hummed quietly. He shifted around the other boy to wrap his arms about Shane's body from behind. "I understand." He said cheerfully.

Shane's eyebrows raised, "You do?" He felt Ryan nod against his shoulder.

"But ..." He added quickly, "You can't let yourself be another ... no matter how much something confuses you, or how much you want it."

The youngest shifted in the other's embrace. "You're being serious ..."

"Of course, if you're going to leave me I can't let you do so thinking that you can try to copy someone else!"

Shane winced. He had finally come to terms with Ryan as far the little spat from yesterday. Neither was truly angry at the other; they had come to the conclusion that the squabble had merely been a release of tension. Ryan admitted in a roundabout sort of way that he had been wanting to take over singing for a while: he felt he could do much better than Shanewhich was a little fact the younger boy had already reluctantly acknowledged to himself.

He was leaving the band, and Ryan did nothing to try to stop him. Confessed, Shane had hoped for a bit of a fight but was not overly surprised the brown-haired boy accepted the decision obligingly. Ryan had only worried that they would not be friends after the whole ordeal but Shane quickly reassured that while rivalry was now indeed an issue: it did not mean that their companionship was any weaker.

Rivalry.

The word had provoked a gleam in Ryan's eyes that Shane was sure had been present in his own when Sullivan had made his observations on the situation. He knew somehow, that this all was a turning point; now he was setting his sights beyond the possibly false agreement of friends he had known for years for the opinions and cooperation of those he was positive would attempt to help him as well as themselves. This was new; things were changing and steadily becoming more exciting than with just Nova and Ryan.

For now however, Shane was relieved he did not lose anyone over these steady changes and was content to come to silent revelations that Ryan was surely perceiving also. Tomorrow would mark a fresh day: both knew that the competitions to be the best would begin then, and one would have to take the other's determination genuinely if music was a serious occupation for their futures.


	5. Safeguard

**AN:** Gaze upon the fifth chapter! Oh ... and notice I changed the chapter titles ... yes. I am genious. . (Since numbers didn't really have anything to do with the story itself ...) And I present to you: Hiro! and Taki! Enjoy his steady torture ...

**Maiko Shindou- **(13) **Maggie Shoeman**

**Shuichi Shindou **- (16) **Shane Shoeman**

**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**

**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17) **Hilary (Hi) Nathan**

**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold **

**Eiri Uesugi **- (? looks 22) **Eric Hueman **

**Tohma Seguchi **- (?) **Tohma Seguchi**

**Mika Seguchi- **() **Mira Sears **

**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15) **Sullivan Fulk**

**Taki Aizawa **- (18) **Taylor Ainsworth**

**Ma-kun** - () **Mark** **Kurt**

**Ken-chan** - ()** Ken Chandler**

**Noriko Ukai **- (18) **Nova Upton**

**Claude K Winchester **- (? looks 25) **Claude K Winchester**

**Sakano** - (28) **Mr. Sakner**

**Yuki Kitazawa** - () **Yale Kitterman**

**Ayaka Usami** - (?) **Ayla Usher**

Safeguard

In comparison to the previous days of that week, Thursday morning had almost been exciting. Since that week's Monday Taylor Ainsworth had found nothing worthy of his attention and quickly discovered the practice of being a misanthrope was more amusing than anybody in the extemely dull school known as Toadstone High. Being something he had been well known for in England; the practice itself involved as acting as dissagreable as possible and making sure he sat near no one at any time. The latter goal was achieved without difficulty as he had already secluded himself as efficaciously as possible in the past four days.

Unfortunately, the sacrifice was even more extreme boredom for the whole six hours of school that he had to endure. For someone like Taylor, this was a horrible notion since it often led him to partake in the oddest activities to help relieve the pain of monotony. A favorite example of entertainment that Taylor often indulged in was eavesdropping. It was always semi-engaging to listen to the insignifigant babble and squibbles of other peoples lifes; sometimes even picking up on some sort of important-of-that-moment drama that could only be seriously played out through high school immaturity.

But what had fully captured Taylor's attention at the moment was a voice that was feminine yet distinctly male as is busily spoke with two others, entwined with an accent as thick as his own. This was a bit confusing since he could safely assume that there were not many Britsh pupils besides himself and because of that he would most likely recognize the owner of the uninvestigated voice. Taylor vaugely recalled another exchange student being mentioned during his time at his school and chastised himself for not having bothered to discover the second person's identity.

Normally he would have simply approached the student in question. However, Taylor felt that point of action would be too blunt in this situation and chose to merely walk around the tables so that he could receive a clear view of the face and hopefully come to his own conclusions about the mystery person.

43334

After returning with some newfound motivation Shane had been much more willing to discuss the prospect of beginning a band with Sullivan's help. The younger boy was just as eager, if not a bit more, to make mere discussions into a reality and was spurred on by the fact he had already found a third individual willing to play guitar. One with promising talent no less; he happened to be the third exchange student mentioned that Monday from California and expiramented with music as a hobby. Hilary Nathan had approached Sullivan after overhearing a conversation between and Shane and had expressed a devote interest in participating in the band. Introducing him to Shane was ultimately pleasing to the keyboardist since they were already talking about arrangements and anything else that came to mind. In fact, Sullivan found that he was often steering the conversation back to the original topic but was not displeased that they were all agreeable with each other.

A short lull had taken place in the middle of their chatter, only to be quickly interrupted by a question from Shane, "So ..." He said to the new guitarist, "What are we supposed to call you?" When he received a puzzled glance from the other teen, he repeated the question. "Well, your first name is Hilary but your second is Nathan. So ... which do you prefer?"

Hilary grinned while he gathered his long bay red locks to toss over his shoulder, "Well, I'll give you the answer I give everyone." He replied, with the air that he had practiced this response before. "If I like you, you may call me Hi." Shane nodded to signal he understood. "If I don't care, you can call me Nathan," Hilary continued, "And if I don't like you ... well, you're going to call me Hilary anyway so it doesn't really matter what I would have to say about the subject, huh?"

The pink-haired simpleton considered his options for a brief moment. "Could I call you Natalie?"

Sullivan stared at him incredulously, "Where did you get Natalie from that?" Hilary's expression was along the same lines of the young keyboardist's.

Shane held out one hand, "Well you take Nathan," Then he offered the other, "And Hilary, squish them together," He accented this by clapping the mentioned hands together. "And then you get Natalie!" Sullivan suddenly understood Shane's logic, much to his dismay.

Complete silence prevailed, broken by a deep breath from 'Natalie', "So when are we going to practice for real?" Hilary asked of Sullivan. The black-haired boy shrugged, pausing as he mulled over the prospects.

"Well, we could go to Shane's house." He suggested thoughtfully.

Hilary nodded his agreement, ignoring Shane's sounds of protest. "Yeah sounds good. My parents wouldn't let us use our garage. All music except classical is the devil you know." He snickered.

"And I don't know how to disarm the security system to mine." Sullivan remarked.

Shane's face flushed red in annoyance from his new friend's presumptuous decisions, "Don't I get a say in this!" He demanded. He really did not mind, but he needed to be included! After all, he was the unspoken leader.

The red-haired guitarist smirked, and reported with finality, "No. No say in things for you." He said teasingly.

"Why not?" Was the whining query.

Hilary dared to reach over the round table and flick the immature boy on the nose, "Because you wanted to call me Natalie." He accused.

The singer clutched at his abused appendage, "That hurt! And that's no reason!"

"Do you have any music that you didn't play with Ryan and Nova?" Sullivan interjected bluntly. The conversation was becoming much too off topic and he wanted to get plans together as soon as was humanely possible. If Shane and Hilary weren't serious, then the youngest of the trio had no qualms of taking matters into his own hands, or at least make his attempts at steering them in the general direction of seriousness.

Shane finally calmed enough to consider options once again. "Well ..." He said slowly, "I have some, but they're things that I either didn't finish or would need edited." Sullivan watched as the sixteen-year-old chewed his lip thoughtfully, "I guess I could find some of my old music sheets ..." The pink headed boy seemed reluctant to share such seemingly unworthy atrocities.

"I'm sure some of it is salvable." Hilary encouraged heartily. "Sounds like Sullivan here can write music, I'm sure he can fix it if it needs it."

"Only if you stink at writing that badly." The writer of alternate music added with a derisive grin at Shane's expense. The insulted began to readily retort, when a shadow was cast along the talkative group. The three fell silent; the being obviously wanting attention from at least one of them.

"Sullivan." The owner of the shadow said smugly, "Sullivan Fulk. To meet you here of all places."

The named visibly blanched at the new stranger's presence. Hilary and Shane gave worried glances, neither sure how to react since they were not familiar with Sullivan's comings and goings. The boy remained silent as he shakily gathered his wits before he impassively replied, "Taylor, I never would have thought." He said with a masque of a smile. He was the deity of Calm and Collected; nothing could have possibly disturbed the boy in any way.

The cool response seemed to amuse Taylor more than anything. He smiled and shifted his weight to one leg and gave the impression that he had no intention of leaving without force, or until he had decided that the conversation had grown tiresome. "I didn't know you could play music." The tall, black-haired boy stated musingly, "Didn't think there was much to know about you."

"There's plenty to know." Sullivan said, his voice tight as if strained, "It's not like you took the time learn about who you were ..." He paused, obviously revising his words, "Who you were around almost every day."

Taylor smirked; he saw Sullivan's evasion of certain phrases that were now clearly off limits. "Well, if you're as talented at most of the things I saw you work at, as you are with music, then I doubt the poor suckers stuck in this band with you are going to get very far with you as baggage."

Now, Shane hadn't liked this person from the moment that he had made himself known. Taylor gave off 'vibes' that repelled the sideline-watcher as effectively as 'Raid' on ants. Shane remained quiet with the hopes that Sullivan would say something to make the pest remove himself, but that evidently was not happening. The pink-haired singer could only take so much of listening to the witty banter when he could blatantly see Sullivan had become upset because of this new person. He was more than ready to say something, but Hilary beat him to it.

"Hey." Hilary calmly drawled with a raised voice to get Taylor's attention, "If you're gonna throw insults around, at least say it to someone half your size." His voice was almost teasing but his expression remained threatening and dangerous.

"And if you're going to critique someone's talent," Shane added, "At least make sure you have enough to be able to base your opinion on." Taylor began to fume. Shane decided to continue pushing his buttons. "Since you probably don't know how to create music, you shouldn't say anything to those that have. Maybe next time you insult someone, have a small idea at what you're talking about."

"And you should know who you're talking about before making assumptions." Taylor snarled. The glare he directed at Sullivan made the tiny boy shrink further into his chair. "Your friend has a big mouth." He turned back to Shane with an icy stare. "I'm gonna call your bluff." Taylor stated in a matter-of-fact tone, "There's a competition in two months at the Key Theo Theatre down-town. You think I don't know what I'm talking about?" A mocking sneer crawled its way across his face, "I'll see you on stage it you think you can compare." A humorless snort and a turned heel had Taylor leaving the surprised faces that were now his antagonists.

Shane came out of his shock only when he over-heard Sullivan muttering something about the other side of the globe and hanging himself. "So who was that droopy eyed sourpuss?" Shane asked in a falsely cheerful tone.

"Taylor Ainsworth." Sullivan muttered as though the name had bad taste. "We went to the same private school for about a year." The boy had mentioned earlier that he had been removed from the assumed school after eighth grade and placed into the public system.

Hilary raised an inquiring eyebrow, "How do you know each other? You two don't seem like you'd be friends."

The questioned paled once again, placing on his telltale smile that Shane was quickly learning to be a form of shield. "We weren't." Sullivan answered. "I was one of his targets to reign over."

"But he spoke as though he knew you." The pink-haired vocalist easily interpreted that his new keyboard player did not like the line of questioning or the subject, but curiosity was getting the best of him.

"Trust me when I say we barely knew each other." The smile was becoming strained, and Sullivan's body language said that he definitely wanted to either run away or change the topic. Hilary seemed to have picked up on the signs because he moved past the discomforting examination.

"I'll look into this contest thing." He offered, "If it's for real, do you want to enter?" Despite the tenseness radiating after Taylor's appearance, the prospect of a challenge seemed to help bring a lighter heart to the prevailing artists.

Shane broke into a giant grin, "Yeah! Not only will we show sourpuss who's boss, we'll get to play for a bigger crowd than normal!"

"The only crowd so far." Sullivan reminded the enthusiastic singer.

"But that's gonna change isn't it?" The sixteen-year-old declared in horrible English, "'Cause we don't got nothin' but good luck!"

Hilary and Sullivan both wondered if the vain announcement was a fact or just steam.

43334

Thaddeus was not happy. Livid in fact; he could not understand how such a fault could slip through the tight security that surrounded the whole situation. If he (of all angels) could sense a foreboding presence, then the Archangels surely knew of it long before he did. This oversight called for the attention of someone with greater manpower than Tohma, but Thaddeus did not possess the knowledge of how to actually -reach- that someone without being accused of going over Tohma's head.

'Which is exactly what I want to do ... but we're too close nit for me to get away with it ...' Conspiracies made their attempts to form in the angel's mind, each time they were canceled out because they all ended with the scenario of Thaddeus' body missing it's skull. He was not worried enough to put himself in -that- sort of danger. Incessant complaints would have to do for the moment.

"TOHMA!" The black-haired angel blustered his way past the mentioned's doorway. "I will not be turned away this time!" He had been ignored before, and what better way to capture he- who's-attention-could-not-be-captured than with more obnoxious exclamations than usual? Thaddeus figured it would all be worth the precarious glares if he got his point to mind.

"Can I help you?" Tohma looked up and regarded the young man with an irritated eye, unappreciative of being bothered from his apparent revery.

Thaddeus huffed and planted defiant hands upon his waist, "Not me. Them! You can't tell me you haven't noticed." He exclaimed, "Tohma, this is a problem, you can't just leave "

"Tell me what you're carrying on about and maybe I can do something." Tohma interrupted as he rubbed a temple with one hand. He was in no mood to deal with one of the boy's pointless rants. Thaddueus had come to him bearing overplayed melodrama before, and though it was usually with the best of interests he had the superhuman talent of being extremely annoying. "Who is 'them' and what is the problem?"

The young angel found himself puzzled at Tohma's clueless-ness and wondered what could have possibly gone wrong that such an important piece of information could have slipped the shred man's grasp. He opened his mouth to explain, when he noticed a body next to his that had not been there a moment before.

"Tohma, we have a problem." Said a tall man with blond hair.

Thaddeus gave the glorified spirit a triumphant scoff, only to be ignored. "What is it K?" Tohma asked in irritated speech.

K dismissed the frustrated tone in his senior's voice and began to report in a professional demeanor that he had learned long ago. "There have been details from other guardian angels of a malevolent presence lurking around a school." He began smoothly, "These angels were "

"Yes, yes give me a list later." Tohma interjected swiftly, further demonstrating his unpleasant mood. "Continue."

K nodded, "Well, there were a good thirty-some reports. Anyway, they were all around 12:40," The blond paused uncertainly, "In Toadstone High School obviously ... since that -is- where I have been hovering lately ..."

Tohma's eyes narrowed as he raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "Did anyone specify who it was staying around?"

The taller blond shook his head, "No. This -could- be a random demon in need of exorcizing but ..." The doubt that crossed K's face spoke words for Tohma. He acknowledged this with the tightening of his lips and a sharp glance at Thaddeus who still stood, ears perked as he listened intently.

"Thaddeus, you are excused now." Tohma stated.

But Thaddeus was not one to be dismissed so easily. His eyes flashed in rebellion, the hair on the back of his neck literally rising as an angry cat's would, "I have every right to be here!" He professed. "I should be allowed to hear what you plan to do with Eiri, he's "

"Tatsuha!" Tohma's voice lowered dangerously; a wince rewarded for his ability to strike fear with only a single threatening glance. "There is a reason you're in purgatory," Another flinched from the newly named. "It was your choice after all." The blond smirked ruefully, "What was it you had said? You 'didn't want to be away from aniki': how sweet." He sneered, "It was your one desire after death, even after Ry "

"Stop it." Tatsuha hissed through clenched teeth, "I get it. I'll leave." He flashed a wrathful glare in Tohma's direction before he stepped back respectfully and brushed past a stoic K who did not yield a centimeter despite the boy's resentful state. K waited until the irate creature had disappeared before offering his own disapproving glance.

"Was that necessary?" He asked gruffly. The blond knew Tohma to resort to inconsiderate measures regarding anything if it worked to his benefit.

Tohma sighed heavily and passed a hand through his platinum yellow hair, "It's for his own good ..." He muttered, and received a doubtful glance from K. "When Tatsuha insisted on being in purgatory rather than allowing his soul to be reincarnated along with his memories, he agreed to stay away from his brother ... you know this K." The angel persisted almost desperately.

"Then why have you allowed him to speak with Eiri for so long?" K crossed his arms and frowned deliberately to emphasize his point. "He's been taking care to not say anything that might bring back memories, but if them being separated was so important I'm sure you would have done something about it decades ago." The glower K received would have made most men want to shrivel and find a hole to take shelter in.

"I would have a long time ago." Tohma said tensely, "But the Guardian arrangements conveniently placed Eiri and Tatsuha in the same time stage, the same country and the same town, there really isn't much I can do."

K smirked; Tohma hated being unable to maintain command. He had known the man long enough to understand that despite his overly calm appearances, Tohma was most likely becoming furious at not being able to dictate the turn of events. With Tatsuha poking around in business that was no longer his own, this could lead to Tohma attempting to fight too many demons at once and by himself. Furthermore, K knew Tohma to often let his personal preference and opinions lead his decisions too often; this was probably more of an explanation as to why he was allowing Tatsuha associate with Eiri since he reasons were most likely completely his own.

Then there was the matter of Tatsuha and Eiri being placed so near to each other; as Tohma had said, it was much too convenient. Along with the reports of a 'presence' suddenly showing up, all K could think to explain the ironic occurrences was that someone was pulling strings for whatever their benefit.

How the reincarnation process could have possibly been tampered with was beyond K but another repeat of history was the last thing he wanted the Archangels to hear of. Tohma's own tampering had proven catastrophic in the past, and the people being affected now were too specific to be coincidence. If whoever was pulling the strings had been aiming to be subtle: placing Shane Shoeman into the mix had been a serious mistake. Tohma had probably already been suspicious after Tatsuha was assigned so close to Shane, but the sudden shortage of guardian angels forcing Tohma to assign Eiri (specifically) to Shane was much too convenient.

Why these events were happening was still too vague, and all K was really worried about was Tohma's future reactions. After all, it was his unspoken duty to make sure he didn't do anything stupid.

Tohma wearily rubbed his temples and lowered his gaze to his desk, "Find out where this demon, spirit-whatever is lurking and get rid of it." He ordered distractedly, "You have the resources to exorcize it, use them." With an absent wave of the hand, K was rudely dismissed. The taller blond internally chuckled: this all was definitely placing his superior into a foul mood.

43334

"Shane!"

The named boy turned, confused, to see an enthusiastic Hilary pushing his way through the passing period crowd. Shane shifted his back pack and waited against the shoving rabble for the suddenly energetic red head to reach him. "What is it?" He asked as soon as Hilary came within hearing distance.

A slightly flushed face looked up at the pink-haired boy, "I already looked into that contest Taylor mentioned." The guitarist gasped and held up a lump of folded papers to display, "It's in two months, and you have to register to get into the qualification round."

Shane felt a sudden wave of excitement and didn't bother hiding the grin spreading across his face, "When do we have to sign up by?" He asked eagerly.

Hesitation from the other earned Hilary another puzzled stare. "In three weeks ..." He mumbled somewhat reluctantly.

Blank eyes blinked dumbly at the bearer of slightly misfortunate news and made their attempts to fully process the new information. Once it did reach the willfully numbed brain, Shane smiled ever more widely and held up two victorious fingers. "That's more than enough time to fix some of my old songs!" He declared. "We just need to work whenever we meet."

Unbeknownst to the optimistic child, Hilary had secretly met with his old band members and asked details of Shane's personality. He had been thoroughly and heartily informed of his new friend's tendency for procrastination; this was something that definitely was not needed since -fixing- old songs had habit of being more difficult than making a new one. Hilary merely smiled past his doubt and moved on, "I told Sullivan." He said, "He mentioned that worked in our benefit anyway since Taylor has to find a band by then and come up with a song. There has to be at least three members ..." Hilary stopped at the faraway expression overcoming Shane's eyes. "You okay?"

The manic boy immediately shook himself out of his daze, "Yeah." He said, masking himself with another smile, "We'll win this if it kills us." Shane shifted his back pack once again and pushed himself in the direction of his classroom, much to the puzzlement of the red-head.

'Anticipating something sinister,' Hilary thought as Shane disappeared into the crowd. 'Something is going to happen, it's emanating from him ...'


	6. Tutelary

**Maiko Shindou- **(13) **Maggie Shoeman**

**Shuichi Shindou **- (16) **Shane Shoeman**

**Ryuichi Sakuma **- (17) **Ryan Satterfield**

**Hiroshi Nakano**- (17) **Hilary (Hi) Nathan**

**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold **

**Eiri Uesugi **- (? looks 22) **Eric Hueman **

**Tohma Seguchi **- (?) **Tohma Seguchi**

**Mika Seguchi- **(--) **Mira Sears **

**Suguru Fujisaki **- (15) **Sullivan Fulk**

**Taki Aizawa **- (18) **Taylor Ainsworth**

**Ma-kun** - (--) **Mark** **Kurt**

**Ken-chan** - (--)** Ken Chandler**

**Noriko Ukai **- (18) **Nova Upton**

**Claude K Winchester **- (? looks 25) **Claude K Winchester**

**Sakano** - (28) **Mr. Sakner**

**Yuki Kitazawa** - (--) **Yale Kitterman**

**Ayaka Usami** - (?) **Ayla Usher**

Tutelary

'Anticipating something sinister. I have a bad feeling ...'

The young singer strolled silently through the almost empty park, breathed the crisp air and closed his eyes against the chilled breeze. He knew his sudden change in moods was worrying those that associated with him, but something had struck him that Thursday. It was a tangibility: something undefinable that he couldn't quite associate with deja vu. It was too real to be ignored and had sent chills up his spine that had him wondering why this was effecting him so badly and what the feeling could possibly foresee. He couldn't say Hilary's enthusiasm alone was the cause of all these confusing emotions; the intuition had been haunting him since that Monday but not nearly with such intensity.

'After I saw that man ...'

That Man. Mister Janitor: whose presence was not of any importance in Shane's life but when he happened to be around he caught the boy's attention like no other. The whole situation was almost hilariously cliché. There were the casual glances in the hallways that had Shane blushing suspiciously like a schoolgirl, and the fact whenever he was mindlessly skimming the lunch room his gaze would always find his mysterious, golden haired infatuation.

'I'm acting like a girl with a crush ...' That thought was most definitely disturbing. But there was more to his reactions than any possible attraction wasn't there? (Once again Shane dismissed that this was not the only time this week that he had used the word 'attract' in reference to Mister Janitor with its corresponding suffix). Hilary had given him the same feeling, and oddly enough Taylor had also. This strange, deja-vu sensation was very perplexing to the all ready easily puzzled singer, and why it was happening around people he hardly knew raised even more unanswerable questions.

Shane sighed, and chose to force himself into some form of relaxation. The town's universal meeting arena, official and casual alike, often served as a sanctuary to assist in focusing his mind. This seemed to work best during the clearest nights when the stars were bright, and there was no one in the surrounding area to distract him. Such was the choice environment that peaceful evening as he walked and took in the dark trees that stood noticeable against the building lights outside of the park. He walked, and refused to allow himself to debate anything besides how lovely it was that eventide. He walked, and soon found himself standing outside of the hedge maze that sat in the center of the park.

The aperture was at least eight feet high, posted observably next to two tall metal lamps that beckoned for a visitor to enter. One lamp flickered with its weakened bulb, a moth and gnats bumping against it as they seemed curiously interested in the dance the strange luminescence had to propose.

The pink-haired teen stood and watched for some unknown amount of time, thinking nothing and not wanting to, before taking his first plunging step into the dimly lit maze. The already weak illumination faded and dark green leaves swallowed him in a warm but uncomfortable embrace, the tall walls surrounded him domineeringly. Spaced lamp-lights offered no ease where the shadows loomed and the night crawlers supposedly lurked, sending Shane's imagination on a goose chase that he knew was purely mental, but could not reason away.

It was when he had effectively spooked himself and was looking over his shoulder constantly, did he realize that he had no idea where in the hedge maze he was. There were red, cloth flags that marked the correct path, but since his attention had been elsewhere he wasn't sure where the awry path had begun or how to return to the true, precise one. Shane turned his tense body and attempted to backtrack. Every discovery of a new corridor felt as though he only leading deeper into the purposely planted shrubbery, and soon the frightened teen began jogging pointlessly as though moving faster would help him find an exit; only to run himself strait into a dead end and send his hapless body tumbling to the ground.

"Ouch ..." He mumbled and rubbed sorely at his tender and newly scratched cheek. The boy whimpered quietly and allowed himself some self-pity toward his hopelessly lost and pathetic state of being. Only he could have possibly misplaced himself at 10:00 at night, alone and located in what could be considered an abnormally large bush ... was that noise nearby?

"Did you hear something?" A distant male voice asked curiously.

"Hear what?" Came an irritated reply, followed by the muffled footsteps of two.

Shane could feel his face brighten with this possible smidgen of hope, and picked himself up off the cold ground to locate whomever his saviors voices might belong to.

"It kinda sounded like: 'shuffleshuffle WHAM whimper ...'" Stated the first voice musingly.

"Gee, I know now exactly what you're talking about." Sarcasm seemed to be this person's cardinal attribute.

The boy rounded another corner and noticed two retreating backs as they made their ways into the shadowed distance. "Excuse me!" He called, and waved his arm with the intention of catching the pair of stranger's attention. They both hesitated and Shane ran with all of his scrounged merit possible to his means of leaving this petrifying place. "Oh thank you!" He gasped weakly as he reached the two puzzled men ahead of him. "I was lost!"

The slightly shorter male's black eyebrows rose, "Really?" He asked in surprise. "'Cause the entrance is right ahead." He pointed forward for Shane's gaze to follow and indeed, there was the opening archway, noticeable with its two lampposts eminent and flickering almost mockingly. The teen felt unbelievably moronic for having missed such an obvious landmark.

"Not very bright, is he?" The taller of the two strangers stated, and pulled from his mouth a shortened cigarette that had hung lifelessly. Shane glared at the degrading man with every connotation of returning the smart remark, to find himself staring at a painfully familiar pretty face.

"You're the janitor!" The pink-haired bungler exclaimed. "From my school!" He looked closer at the shorter of the pair, the bad light making him squint to see the details of the not-quite-stranger's face. "And you're Thad Understold, the guy that helped the seniors toilet paper the gymnasium last year." Shane gasped, and he pointed accusingly toward the walking misdemeanor.

The blond raised an eyebrow and looked down at his previously unknown mischievous companion, "So what have you been up to while I wasn't looking?" He asked as his voice dripped with mirthful amusement.

Thaddeus laughed and an unconscious shade of pink spread across his slightly embarrassed face, "Can I say I don't know what you're talking about?" Not only did his new acquaintance have some information that could place him into a jailhouse, there were probably rules against such activities in accordance with obvious, higher authorities.

Shane laughed also, and was on his way to leave the cursed Hedge Monster with his two fellows beside him, when something completely illegal occurred to mind. "Say," He said carefully, and abruptly ceased his chuckles. "You two aren't ... you know ..?" The boy trailed off, unsure of how to express such an abominable idea to these seemingly friendly people that had assisted him. When he received a pair of puzzled glances, he attempted to fill in the remaining empty spaces of his question. "Well, it's kinda odd that a janitor and a student are hanging out after hours ..." Shane mumbled, somewhat disconcerted by his own open accusations.

Comprehension dawned to the accused, and the blond appeared more vexed than his raven-haired companion. "You think we're --" He began to rave, only to be rudely interrupted by a stray hand.

"Of course not!" Thaddeus cried. "We're cousins! A bit closer than most, but don't we look alike?" He babbled, and linked a chummy arm around his supposed cousin's tense shoulder.

Shane squinted, the bad light evidently impairing his vision. "I guess ..." He complied with an incoherent mutter, and dismissed the subject rather quickly.

They fell into a silence that was not quite comfortable, but was perfectly acceptable since non of the three genuinely wished to begin a conversation for the mere sake of creating noise. However, from Shane radiated the aura of somebody who wished say something more, though by the time they had stepped foot from the hedge maze, he hadn't worked up the courage to mention whatever the unknown topic was. Normally Thaddeus would have asked just to help relieve the tension that had been befalling the group, because he had never been of the personality to allow quiet to remain in the heavy atmosphere. Though, under the odd circumstances he decided to avoid as much conversation with younger, nervous boy as was politely possible and settled for fidgeting in his jacket.

Mister Janitor was content, and allowed the other two to be uncomfortable; he hated small talk anyway.

Shane chewed his lower lip, and attempted to think of a gracious way to leave. "Um ... well ..." His hands fisted to his sides, and he struck his legs as though the action were a nervous twitch. "Thanks ... I guess ..." He waved a jerky goodbye, and began his trek up a separate pathway, before he hesitated and turned with newfound courage. "Ah ... I was wondering ... " Shane stuttered apprehensively. " ... what your name was..."

The cause of his embarrassment glanced over his shoulder and raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Well, I see you everyday I guess I was just kind of curious ..." Unknowing of why such a simplistic question was so difficult to ask, Shane could not quite bring himself to look at the stranger's face.

"Next time look at the name badge."

"Huh?" The boy raised his eyes, dumbstruck at blunt statement.

The blond smirked and tapped his chest were the mentioned badge would have been. "I said, next time we're trading glances look at the name badge I wear everyday." With that, he turned again and strode away with Thaddeus close behind.

Shane stared at their retreating backs, before he scowled and grumbled, "That stoic asshole ... it was just a question." Rude people annoyed him to no end, and obviously his mystery was extremely ill-mannered. The teen concluded that this man was not worth his time, and any future trading-of-glances would be efficiently ignored.

He nodded to himself, satisfied with his decision and ran the rest of his way home, eager to inform his sister of the horrible man.

"That was sort of mean." Thaddeus informed the perpetually rude man when they walked side by side once again. Eiri's habit with insisting on being so painfully blunt was irritating and the rational seemingly non-existent, but for some reason Thaddeus always found it within himself to tolerate the man's predictable discourtesies.

Eiri only smiled and dug in his coat pocket for another cigarette. Smoking was a habit he had immediately been drawn to upon returning to the human realm. Why, he wasn't sure, but the blond figured it didn't really matter since it couldn't possibly kill him. "If I had given him my name he would have tried to talk to me again. You know the rules." He said, and lit the white cylinder between his fingers.

Thaddeus sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. "Yeah, but you don't want him to hate you."

Eiri only smirked around his newly fired cancer stick, "He doesn't hate me; he just thinks I'm a prick now."

"You are." Thaddeus said with a frown, supporting Shane's apparent opinion. "Especially when you talk to him like that."

"Why do you care how I talk to him?" Eiri sighed. He wasn't in the mood to argue with the other male, and Thaddeus seemed willing to goad some any sort of conflict at the moment. Something particularly bothersome had seemed to be resting on the boy's thoughts that night, and while Eiri hadn't bothered to ask what was making the other so irritable, he was somewhat curious.

"I'm just saying; you just might not want to make him angry ... you know, just in case." Thaddeus commented impassively. He looked away as though the darkened trees were suddenly interesting, and did not quite meet the inquisitive glance he was currently receiving.

"Why say something like that?" Eiri asked calmly. Far be it for him to imply in the slightest that someone's steering-of-the-conversation tactics were working.

"Well, you know ..." The black-haired angel began thoughtfully, "all this band stuff that's going on right now." He said quietly, and his voice slowly lowered itself to not much more than a mutter. "Someone's bound to get hurt ..."

Eiri pondered this peculiar statement for a moment before he stopped his walking and frowned pointedly at the other angel. The excess amounts of odd comments that Thaddeus was making tonight were too many to be ignored. "What's going on?" He demanded, and glared at the fidgeting boy expectantly.

He squirmed even more uncomfortably under Eiri's penetrating stare. "I heard ..." He started, but his tongue did not seem to want to move for more than a few syllables.

"What?" The irked blond growled dangerously. Not only was he not in the mood to argue: after all, a game such as this was not particularly appealing at the moment. If Thaddeus felt as though this apparent nerve-racking topic was important enough to bother him with, the boy might as well have courtesy enough to finish his stuttered sentence.

The angel chewed his lip. "Tohma and ..." He commenced carefully, and attempted to avoid any specific names. "... one of his messengers. They were talking about how some spirit or something-or-other was hanging around the school." Thaddeus explained a bit reluctantly. "They sort of commented on how it seemed to be hanging around Shane ... but they weren't really sure."

"They 'sort of commented'?" Eiri scowled.

The boy chose to lie through his teeth. Although he was technically an angel, that didn't mean he was holy at heart. "It was implied." He said quickly. "Tohma mostly said that he wanted to change you to a different human."

The object of his insincerities seemed to deem this an acceptable answer. Tohma -had- commented that he hadn't been overly pleased with the arrangements himself, and Eiri wouldn't have put it past the other blond to attempt using his man-power to change who he was paired with. Eiri would not object should the event transpire either. Being around his charge made him strangely uneasy for reasons he couldn't pinpoint. It disconcerted him even more that he didn't know the causes for these disquieted emotions, and that Tohma presumably would avoid his questions since he had already inquired as to why he was so objective to him being near Shane, and had never received an answer.

Not occurring to Eiri's growing list of Questions and Curiosities, was that he had not been informed of the malignant matter despite it directly involving him. A curious happening indeed; and Tatsuha was grateful that he appeared to have overlooked this. As shrewd as Eiri really was, he had a tendency to ignore rather blatant details. Had he heard the actual conversation Tatsuha had come across, though, his suspicion unquestionably would have become much greater.

The impish angel was almost relieved that Eiri probably trusted Tohma enough to leave matters thus, and honestly didn't seem to want to meddle in the complicated affairs of Mr. Seguchi. That meant all the intruding would be left to Tatsuha, and this mystery would sooner be solved since he had the more complete information. Notifying Eiri of the spirit had been a courtesy 'heads up'. Should anything harmful advance in Shane's direction, the blond would at least possess a hunch of what the harmful creature was.

"Thanks for the warning. I'll be sure to put in my two weeks notice for my -choice- job." Eiri said nonchalantly. "And I'll keep an eye out for this demon-whatever ..."

Whether or not Eiri was planning to do something about Tohma or not, Tatsuha was almost sure the other would dismiss it. Being in purgatory also meant one was content with all happenings; negative and positive. Eiri rarely questioned anything anymore, only because his existence was a state where he had no reason to do so and questions would only lead to unwanted answers.

Tatsuha was not in true purgatory: his memories had never been forgotten.

He looked at the one that was his unknown brother, one whom was satisfied with a mundane reality, one whom disputed nothing because conflict was unwanted. This was not the brother he remembered, and Tatsuha was on the verge of willing to sacrifice Eiri's current cozy state to see who he remembered as his relative. That would be selfish though, and the boy had an unwelcome feeling that all of Tohma's past and current interferences would soon be resolved at the angel's expense. His, and possibly another's...

Tatsuha audibly sighed, and raised his head to the black sky that he had only recently become familiar with. 'Anticipating ...' He thought grudgingly, 'It's gonna be a long couple of months ...'

AN: What? You thought they were gonna like each other off the bat? That would have been way too easy. :) Consider this a sort of interlude between setting up the characters and the real story ...

And is anyone still reading this:stares at review counter:


	7. Paladin

**AN:** :stab:stab:stab: . Ebil chapter. Forgive yours truly. Next chapter be better. :gya:

**Maiko Shindou-** (13) **Maggie Shoeman  
Shuichi Shindou -** (16) Shane Shoeman  
**Ryuichi Sakuma** - (17) **Ryan Satterfield  
Hiroshi Nakano-** (17) Hilary (Hi) Nathan  
**Tatsuha Uesugi**- (? looks 16) **Thaddeus (Tad) Understold  
Eiri Uesugi -** (? looks 22) **Eric Hueman  
Tohma Seguchi -** (?) **Tohma Seguchi**  
**Mika Seguchi-** (--) **Mira Sears  
Suguru Fujisaki -** (15) Sullivan Fulk _  
_**Taki Aizawa -** (18) **Taylor Ainsworth  
Ma-kun -** (--) **Mark Kurt**  
**Ken-chan -** (--) **Ken Chandler  
Noriko Ukai -** **(18)** Nova Upton  
**Claude K Winchester** - (?) **Claude K Winchester**  
**Sakano** - (28) Mr. Sakner  
**Ayaka Usami** - Ayaka Usami

Interlude - Paladin

Energy radiated throughout the entire household as one very convivial singer celebrated his victory with every jovial pore in his being. "WE'RE PLAYING!" Shane cheered ecstatically as he danced his way into his widespread dining**-**room.

Sullivan rolled his eyes from his slumped position on Shane's dining room table, yet he was not as irritated as he pretended. "Yes, yes. You've been chanting that for the past hour." He confirmed dryly, then quickly turned his head to hide his amused smile.

The pink-haired bundle of joy pulled his knees to his chest and released a high-pitched squeal. Hilary, who sat next to Shane laughed with just as much mirth as his enthusiastic friend possessed. "We barely did it, but it happened."

"'Barely' does not even begin to describe it." Sullivan frowned, "We have to practice our butts off if we want to even -compare- to Nittle Grasper." His opinion toward their performance was extremely negative, for good reason.

Shane's victory dance ceased for a brief moment, before he ignored the fact-filled statement and continued wiggling in his chair. "C'mon Shane! It's your birthday!" He sang happily.

Hilary sighed, and allowed the private celebration. "We'll pull it off." He stated encouragingly, "At least ASK came in tenth ..."

"As compared to our ninth ..." Sullivan mumbled disapprovingly."We could have done better."

The long-haired boy nodded sagely. "Sure we could have." He agreed, "But if you're comparing us to Nittle Grasper: they had a lot more time to practice," Hilary glanced at the one blissfully ignoring the entire conversation, "with a song they already knew." He added ruefully.

"Yes." Sullivan said loudly. "A song they already knew." He growled, and glared spitefully in Shane's direction.

That weekend the anticipated qualification rounds had befallen the small town at the Key Theo Theatre. Coming in second had been none other than Nittle Grasper themselves, consisting of Ryan, Nova and an unknown girl who possessed a name that no one could remember. They had dazzled the audience with their musical aptitude, and undoubtably left their mark upon each person who happened to listen. Nittle Grasper earned their place in the light. However, they were being criticized by those that were familiar with them, due to the fact they had rendered a song that had originally been created with Shane: performed with his permission of course. His own band mates had not been pleased when they discovered Nittle Grasper's masterstroke of a song was not entirely of their doing. Bad Luck's three week efforts had suddenly felt as though they had been futile.

Somewhat ironically, there was comfort in knowing that their -other- rivals had not faired much greater than themselves. Taylor had managed to find two who were tolerant of him within his own three-week limit, and had thrown together two songs for their amateurish performance. While the quickly formed ASK had not been the worst spectacle to be heard, their composition was obviously hurried, and had not been overly pleasant to listen to.

Shane exposed his tongue in Sullivan's direction, and shrugged off the expressed insinuation. "We passed didn't we?" He said in a dismissive tone, "We'll do better next time."

"What kind of attitude is that!" The youngest boy cried incredulously, "We'll never do better if you keep thinking like that!"

"Calm down Sullivan." Hilary chided calmly. "He's just as worried as we are." He quirked a reprimanding eyebrow at Shane, who was pretending not to see the daggers coming from Sullivan. "Aren't you Shane?"

Shane shook his pink head with vigor, "Of course not!" He declared, "Because we're going to show those posers whose boss next month!"

Whether he meant ASK or Nittle Grasper, neither of his band mates were certain; they merely sighed as their insane singer proceeded to strike triumphant positions atop his chair.

----

They had remained awake until after 1:00 A.M., strenuously attempting to improve upon their sound. Taylor, and his two new associates Mark and Ken, were all equally determined to show that they had more than mediocre talent at their fingertips.

'What kind of name is ASK?' Taylor wondered to himself as he slid under his inviting bed covers. 'First bloody thing we thought of, that's what ...'

He glanced down to the large blond and even larger brunet sleeping on his floor and sighed wearily. 'Sleep ...' The boy was just traveling toward the Sand Man's home, when he heard the obnoxious ring tone of his cell phone beckoning for him. Taylor grunted irritably, before groping around in the dark for the annoying piece of plastic that was somewhere on his bedside table.

"What?" The half-awake boy mumbled.

There was a moment of silence on the other side, just long enough for Taylor to begin to shut the phone off. However minutely, unexpectedly, a quiet voice found its nerve and spoke calmly.

"Do you want to beat Bad Luck?"

"Huh?" Taylor grunted dumbly. At first it hadn't registered that the sentence was probably in reference to his rivals, but as soon as his half awake mind had realized this strange voice possessed something interesting to say, Taylor's alertness peaked.

"What's it to you, and who the hell are you?" He responded gruffly, not quite believing that someone was daring to call him in the middle of the night in order to help him. How had the voice found his phone number anyway?

The voice chuckled musingly, "I can assist you, that's all you need to know. As for why it's personal."

'What a thoughtful answer ...' Taylor sarcastically considered, and rolled his eyes as he debated humoring this presumably arrogant person. His tolerance for such games was next to non, especially when one in question calls at unruly hours. He sighed, "Say what you want to, but as soon as you lose my interest I'm hanging up."

"Fair enough." The voice chuckled. "Well, here's an idea ..." It began, and Taylor listened.

----


	8. Curator

**AN:** Hah. I found a funny word: lackadaisical. I needed an excuse to use it. :) It means, "Idle, inattentive; showing lack of interest."

Because of the dwindling of words that I have been experiencing, you all are being rewarded for you patience with two long chapters in a row, and acknowledgments! (Plus a super long author's note) I'd like to thank you all for your feedback. Reviews are what keep me posting this AU ... I have not been ignoring you, but I -am- terrible at responding to comments ...

Cookies to all!

Hitomi, BkFan, Dana, Relle, imccall93, blu-rain, penguinie, MC-88, Joonie, Kiyuu, Feverdream, Cassiopeia, Christa, Claudita, Vivi, Kristen, Ene, Crimson Okami, Anon

Plus a shout-out to my beta, Bey. Eternally grateful

So far, the questions that have been brought up are what I -want- you to be asking. They are all things that will be eventually resolved, so I'm glad you're confused. I was worried this story was too self-explanatory.

And in answer to a few questions: I purposely went from 'Thaddeus' to 'Tatsuha' to show that indeed, there was meaning behind the name changes. Sorry if I confused anyone. (Oh and, AU stands for 'Alternate Universe', penguinie :)

I know Shuuichi doesn't look like a 'Shane' ... but it's better than 'Steven'. Shudder. LEAVE. THE. NAMES. ALONE. Tip: Generally, the first two letters of the new name are the same romanji of the real names.

Maiko Shindou- (13) Maggie Shoeman

Shuichi Shindou - (16) Shane Shoeman

Ryuichi Sakuma - (17) Ryan Satterfield

Hiroshi Nakano- (17) Hilary (Hi) Nathan

Tatsuha Uesugi- (? looks 16) Thaddeus (Tad) Understold

Eiri Uesugi - (? looks 22) Eric Hueman

Tohma Seguchi - (?) Tohma Seguchi

Mika Seguchi- (--) Mira Sears

Suguru Fujisaki - (15) Sullivan Fulk

Taki Aizawa - (18) Taylor Ainsworth

Ma-kun - (--) Mark Kurt

Ken-chan - (--) Ken Chandler

Noriko Ukai - (18) Nova Upton

Claude K Winchester - (?) Claude K Winchester

Sakano - (28) Mr. Sakner

Yuki Kitazawa - (--) Yale Kitterman

Ayaka Usami - (?) Ayaka Usami

Curator

A man in limbo is not supposed to dream. Whether it involves fluffy kittens and chocolate or twisted, bloody images of the terrible, dreaming is not something that occurs to the satisfied. However, as of late, Eiri's mind had been constantly conjuring panoramas: pictures in his sleep. This was a function that had long been forgotten, now completely unfamiliar, and it perturbed him to no end. What these dreams foretold was something Eiri avoided consideration of, for the simple fact that he was wary of any questions that might arise amidst his quiet state. Troublesome inquiries would be an unwelcome intrusion to him, and he disliked things that disturbed him.

This may have been a very simple way of thinking, but Eiri found he was perfectly content as he was. The only matters that were invading his flawless little world were these cursed dreams which continued to haunt him.

"I've want to tell someone ..." He muttered to himself some random day, but never endeavored to find a body that would listen. It wasn't until he was approached by one with a strangely familiar face, did Eiri find that he should have forced himself outside of his normal, comfortable bubble much sooner.

"You should know something." Said the stranger with the recognizable visage, "It's about that kid you've been assigned."

"Shoeman?" Eiri prompted nonchalantly, "What about him?"

The day had a noticeable chill to it as Autumn tends to convey, but the sky was clear enough that the sun almost made wearing an overcoat too warm. Even so, Eiri snugly surrounded himself with his black raincoat, drew in his burning cigarette and sent his most lackadaisical glance in the stranger's direction.

The other remained unfazed and nodded in collected assent to Eiri's assumption. "Tohma didn't seem very wanting in informing you," He began casually, "but you should know that there's been some investigating behind your back."

Eiri inadvertently made an interested sound around his tobacco-filled paper, "The 'thing' that has been hovering around?"

His new acquaintance raised a staggered brow, "You knew? How?" he questioned.

The blond smirked in a somewhat roguish manner, "A little bird came and told me." He snickered, and removed his stubbing cigarette from his mouth.

"Probably a black bird ... or a crow." Came a mutter, but it was quickly dismissed. "No matter, so have you noticed anything?"

Eiri shook his head, "No. I have tried searching for anything strange but nothing seemed different ..."

A frown, frustration, disappointment and worry cast themselves in bright blue eyes. "Are you sure? Nothing out of the ordinary has happened?" He ran his fingers through long bangs, "If you can think of -anything-, it would be appreciated; mainly because this is sort of ..." He paused to think of the correct term, "personal to Tohma."

It never once occurred to Eiri to ask why, but in remembrance to fretful dreams he suddenly felt obligated to donate in discovering this mysterious concern.

'What are these dreams about?' He hesitantly questioned; 'what' and 'why' were bothersome beginnings to an issue, and had he not been in such a mindless state, perhaps Eiri would have been able to interpret an accurate answer without help. 'Of things gone past ... things no longer important to me ...' Was about the furthest he would allow himself to think on the matter.

His charge had been such a bother thus far: irritatingly troublesome.

"I guess ..." Eiri started offhandedly, "I might offer some insight if you asked the right questions."

The stranger frowned disapprovingly, "If there's anything you're 'forgetting'," He growled, purposely placing emphasis on 'forgetting' to demonstrate his blatant sarcasm. "But never mind, come to my office and maybe you can help more than you think." He encouraged a bit aggressively, "The faster we get this taken care of, the sooner we can all relax."

"Me leaving would leave him alone." Eiri protested logically, "Thaddeus won't be close enough to make up for my absence." Then an afterthought occurred, "And what's your name anyway? Why should I follow you and abandon my duties?"

An irritated sigh laced with a touch of impatience dripped from his hurried answer, "You can call me K, you should trust me because angels have an extremely hard time with lying. I'll send a notice to Thaddeus or another that he has double duty, and -" K smirked wryly, knowledge glittering in his eyes before he finished, "What could possibly happen within a few hours of your absence? He'll be fine."

Eiri sighed reluctantly, and figured that he was not going to win any argument with this particular soul, "Fine, lead the way." He complied wearily.

'What could possibly happen?'

--

"We. Are. So. Close." Shane squeaked in a strained voice as he clutched onto his steering wheel as though it was a life preserver. Rapturous tears threatened to burst from his eyes, even as his entire body began to tremble with excitement in prospect to the upcoming event.

Hilary watched him warily from his space behind the driver's seat inside of the huge minivan, "Ah ... should I drive? 'Cause --"

Sullivan suddenly grabbed the wheel and forced it to the right, "You almost went into the left lane!"

"I knew we should have let Mom or Dad come with us in the van!" Maggie hollered irately from behind Hilary; she sat in the far back to assist with holding the band's few instruments in place.

"That would have been annoying, and you know it!" Shane responded as he looked over his shoulder. He sounded as though he might enjoy starting a fight if it frustrated his little sister, but that was just part of the 'feeling obnoxious' mood he was in.

"No more than your driving skills. Watch the road!" Sullivan yelped as the van began swerve off the street again.

"Shut up you British prick! You're making me nervous!" The pink-haired ninny growled, and hunched back over his precious wheel.

"What was that?" The younger boy shouted, slandered and bristling in response. "I'll show you driving skills: my fist right into your face!"

"Do you want to go right here?" Shane asked in a sing-song voice, "Because I'll pile-drive you right into your seat!"

"Enough!" Hilary snarled furiously over his shoulder, as he struggled to keep Sullivan's keyboard in place and a speaker from falling on top of him, "You're going to get us killed! I should of sat up front just to keep you two children at peace."

The angry horn from a vehicle behind them forced Shane out of his staring match with Sullivan, and to focusing on the road. Maggie sighed heavily, "Lord, I'm not riding with you guys again. You'll be the death of me."

"Shut it Maggie. You're supposed to be my support." Shane pouted, and resisted the urge to pummel the one who's chest was puffing out in triumph beside him.

The rest of the drive went without major event, with the exception of a few sarcastic comments from Maggie, which only earned her a few spiteful jerks of the van just to make her panic. Pulling up to the Key Theo Theatre, it suddenly looked bigger and more intimidating than the old storage house had ever been before. Even Shane calmed down considerably as his excitement dwindled, and the weight of the event began settling on his frantic nerves.

"We'll be fine." Hilary said from behind. Shane saw him smile through his rear-view mirror, "At least this time it's not the same judges, they never heard the first performance." The redhead said jokingly.

"But they also won't know how much we improved." The singer pointed out dryly, "We have to be perfect tonight, I want to compare to Nittle Grasper for once."

Sullivan sighed, and stared at the car next to them as the van was pulled into a parking spot, "We worked hard, but it'll never be enough." The youngest of the three tried on an honest, encouraging smile, and failed miserably, "We'll just get up there and perform better than any mere rehearsal."

No one in the van moved or spoke for a few worried moments, before the keenly cheerful voice of Maggie attempted to break the timid mood of her codgers, "C'mon old men!" She cried, "Music awaits creation! You're the Virgil of Aria! Painters of the gloomy and cheerful, fighters and protectors from the villain-ish ASK. All are waiting to see how much you've improved for this upcoming battle. No time for slouching! Hilary! I'll help you with the keyboard if you open these uncooperative doors for me."

So the Virgil of Aria were led forth by their Maecenas.

--

The Key Theo Theatre was much more impressive on the inside than the outside. Many years ago, the second owner had taken the time to add light brown carpeting and repaint the barren walls dusty red, with the intention of making the storage house into a sort of community center. After insulating it and adding air conditioning, people began asking the owner to rent it out for personal events, which gave him even more money to add to his personal project as he wished.

The owner was a short, fat, round Asian man which most just called him Chinese; his business skills were shrewd, but his dealings were kind, and most who met him couldn't help but take a fearful sort of liking to the small man. He had made a living off of a local record store in another state, and since his had been the only one in his boondocks town, he had more than enough money to invest into a charity project.

After realizing that most of the events held there were along the line of weddings and parties, he had installed a stage in the back so that any speakers or entertainment would have an easier time being heard and seen. This was purely for convention, but it resultantly encouraged local bands to gather and begin renting out the place for their mini-concerts.

Thus more money was made, and Su Feng was a very pleased man. He eventually installed seven foot walls to create a separate room and a hallway, leading from the front of his place to the back stage. The doors were changed from the rusting single door on the entrance, to a wide garage door that exposed the greeting room created in the front. Once unlocked, Su Feng's Place was very airy and open, but closed, was an impenetrable fortress.

How Su Feng's Place came across the official name, 'Key Theo Theatre', no one is really sure. Supposedly, there was some sort of joke involving 'the god of keys', that only Su Feng and a friend of his understood.

The well-known business man died a few years before Shane was even born, but he passed ownership of his place to his friend, and the older community made sure that the authoritative but kind man's memory was known.

None of this mattered as the group of teenagers made their way to the front of the Theatre; Maggie was balancing a microphone stand, guitar and a bundle of wires, Shane was carting an amp with more wires, Sullivan was carting another amp with even more wires, and Hilary strugged valiently with a keyboard.

Both Sullivan and Shane had taken their parent's dollies to help, but were having difficulty balancing correctly as both were also trembling uncontrollably.

No one tried to protest as the four went straight passed the small money collection podium, and into the long hallway towards the greeting room's left. The hallway was only about five feet wide, so the group had to walk in single file to fit comfortably.

Shane suddenly whined, breaking their focused silence. "I never thought I'd hate to see this hallway." He complained childishly, "Why was it made so long?"

"Shut it brother." Maggie growled, "All you have to is push." As if to emphasize, the microphone pole slipped from her fingers and hit the floor with a 'thump'.

"Don't bang that up!" Her brother chastised with a touch of fret in his voice, "You'll have to buy me a new one."

Hilary grunted as he tried to shift the surprisingly heavy keyboard under his right arm, "More importantly: don't drop my guitar."

"I get it, I get it; don't drop your uber expensive stuff."

Sullivan snickered before he accidently stumbled when his feet hit his dolly, "Or cheap, depending on how you look at it." He added impishly.

"Quiet back there." Hilary said over his shoulder, "Or we won't even make it backstage."

Despite a few grumbles, and a few attempts from Sullivan to run over Shane's feet, the only problems they had were moving the dollies to fit through the tiny space that ended the hallway, and turned right into the backstage.

After the four found a spot amidst the other gathering groups to lay their things and began organizing wires, a young man came up to them furiously scribbling on a clipboard.

"You just came here." He stated rather than asked, "Band name?"

Shane spoke up for everyone, "Bad Luck."

The man glanced up at each of their faces, before his lips twitched as though he found something amusing, "Says here there should be three of you, who's the fourth?"

The singer paused before he realized he meant Maggie, "Oh, she's just helping set everything up."

The man nodded distractedly, "Got your paper?"

Shane reached in his pocket and pulled out a bright orange sheet with black bold type on the front. "Hmm ... okay. You're set." He scribbled something on the bottom of the paper before handing it back to the dazed boy. "You're up last, tenth. Don't worry, this was done randomly or else you would've been up first." He smiled, "Good luck, and you'll be called when it's your turn."

With that, the man flitted off toward another group that had just come in, leaving a slightly disoriented Shane to make sure that he understood everything that had just been said.

Shane suddenly twitched into a semblance of life, "What did he mean we would've been up first?" he yelled as though his very dignity had been offended.

The three behind him glanced up, and shrugged simultaneously. "He meant we sucked last time." Hilary said matter-of-factly, "Don't get worked up." he added, and continued his attempt to untangle wires.

Shane spun around, face turned red with annoyance, "Don't get worked up? We didn't do that bad!"

"Shut up and help." Sullivan said negligently, focused on his tangled cords, "Ignore him, we have things of importance to focus on."

Bad Luck's apparent front-man grumbled and grabbed an adapter that stuck out randomly from the pile of multicoloured coils.

Life was fine and good for a brief moment as their petty banter ceased, and the four were focused on a common incentive that motivated them all. The same man that had checked them eventually gave all a thirty minute alarm, and the warning to be prepared when one's turn came or else they would be skipped. Yes, existence was good for those busy moments, until the four were interrupted by three; or more accurately, one.

"Oh look. They actually came with their heads held high. I'll have to rectify that."

Shane bit his lip, and fought off the urge to turn and scream and show Taylor a degree of 'scary'. Only Hilary's warning expression gave him the will to resist. Instead he turned, smiled and politely said, "Who are you? Can I help you?"

Taylor wasn't pleased, "Cute." He snarled sarcastically before starting his monolouge, "Just to let you know, we're going to win no matter what." An air of superiority floated around him, further demonstrating that he wanted those he disliked to quiver in fear.

Shane only rolled his eyes, before looking at the two who stood behind his advisory. The blond, that he would later discover to be Mark, waved a hand in a way that said, 'This is all on him, I don't want a part of this', so Shane never once that day said anything against him and Ken. Taylor on the other hand ...

"It's going to be hard to win," Shane stated snidely, "When you're in the process of looosing!" It was becoming more and more difficult to restrain himself from dancing and sticking his tongue out, especially when Droopy Eyes was getting visibly furious.

Taylor began to step forward with the perceptible intention of causing the shorter boy pain, when an unexpected blur ran passed him, and affectionately tackled Shane to the ground.

"SHANE! Neither of you are going to win! It's going to be me and SUPER Nova!"

The tousled singer blinked up at bundle of energy sitting atop him and chewing enthusiastically on a stuffed bunny's ear. "Ryan!" Shane cried happily, and threw himself into a bear-hug around his friend's waist. "I was worried you were going to be all mean and cold and ignoring to me!" He sqealed.

Ryan shook his head and grinned manically, "Never to a friend!" He paused, and waved at Maggie who was watching them out of the corner of her eye as she worked. "Hi! Are these two your new boyfriends?"

Maggie laughed, "Of course not Ryan, they're the band!"

Taylor in the meanwhile, was completely ignored and set neglectfully to the side; he was left to fume and ask how it was possible for him to be so dismissible, and not a one cared in the slightest. He turned and stalked away towards where his band's equipment was.

"Taylor!" Mark called weakly as he chased after one very angry rival. He caught up and tried to set a hand on the shorter's shoulder, and frowned when it was thanklessly knocked off. "Look, scare tactics obviously aren't going to work on this kid." He tried to appease, "I don't know what you're so upset about."

"He insulted me." Taylor growled from deep inside his chest, "No one insults me and gets away with it."

The blond sighed and rolled his eyes, "C'mon, you sound like someone out of a bad suspense novel. Get over whatever your beef is with Shoeman and try to enjoy tonight."

"It's hard to when your own rival doesn't take you seriously."

A low grunt of annoyance left the blond's throat at his companion's thick skull, and unwillingness to calm in a sensible manner. "Maybe he doesn't consider you one, maybe this is all in your own obsessive head."

Taylor stopped in his tracks, his shoulders visibly tense before he turned and studied Mark inside a withering glare. A lesser man would have shrunk back from the poison radiating from his eyes, but Mark only stood stronger, and met the cement glance with his own.

"Get over yourself." Mark ordered, lacking disarray, "There are other things you could be angry about."

Their staring contest held until he realized he possessed no retort, and Taylor merely snorted and continued to his convoluted corner of band supplies, "Where'd Ken go?" The subject desperately needed changed for the singer's sake.

--

"ATTENTION. Entry one, Neon Green, come to the stage. The contest will begin in fifteen minutes or less. Neon Green, you're up."

"Omigod, omigod, omigod it's starting it's starting ..." Shane squealed from on top of one of his amps; his trembling had yet to quit, and the announcement for their impending doom was in no way supporting any form of calm.

"Was he always like this?" Hilary asked Ryan with a somewhat strained smile.

The brown-haired singer grinned as he shook his head, "Nope! Spazzing was up to me. I knew he had it in him! Didn't I say so Teddy?" The pink bunny was held up into the air to receive a view of Shane rocking himself in the fetal position. Teddy's response was unknown to all but Ryan.

Sullivan suddenly cleared his throat, "So when is Nittle Grasper going up?"

"Number two!" Ryan cheered as he held up two fingers.

Shane snapped out of his reverie, "Second? You guys are second?" He whimpered as his panicking worsened.

Ryan snickered, "Better than dead last." he sniggered almost inaudibly, unnoticably and without the other's attention, "But no worries! I'm sure Bad Luck will do fine!" Teddy found a place on his owner's head and nodded his encouragement.

"Easy for you to say." The pink-haired boy mumbled with callowness, and proceeded to pout in a way that only he could and not appear completely foolish.

i

_"Attention everyone! Our every two yearly band competition, supported by the ever gracious Key Theo Theatre, will be starting within the next few minutes. So introducing, Neon Green!"_ /i

A series of loud but polite cheers and applause came from the invisible audience beyond velvet curtains, giving hint of what awaited every one that stood nervous and patient. All were scared, none were unconfident and the idea that they would get the chance to perform next sent an stimulated shudder throughout every band member standing or sitting. Prospects of enchantment and glory undoubtably soared high in everyone's imagination, which served to give the most timid an ego boost large enough to infallibly convince that playing to one's perfection was the only way to go.

Shane and Ryan both calmed considerably as they listened to band number one present themselves. They listened for faults, for fullness of sound, for beats and synchronization. They listened for clarity, melody and words and for every sound possible in order to size the competition and use it for their benefit.

Later, it was said that Neon Green did very well for amateurs who put their souls upon a platter first.

Nittle Grasper went up next, much to Shane's added butterflies fluttering in his uneasy stomach. He also discovered midway, that ASK had been selected to go sixth, and to his dismay, they performed better than a good half of the bands standing that night.

Besides a few dirty glances exchanged between the two, nothing eventful happened besides some wiring problems that were the theater's fault, and whatever excessive thumping might had been in every band member's chests

The audience that had been at the qualification rounds was genuinely surprised when they heard Bad Luck perform. No one expected them to improve so dramatically. Least of all Taylor, whose glare was caught only by Shane when he noticed him peering from the side curtains like a rat from his protective nest. It was then the pink-haired singer realized Taylor truly was to be pitied, and that he wasn't worth the energy in being angry. But there had been more important things to be focusing on: like singing his heart out.

No one was allowed to leave until after the final appearance, so all were restless and restive by the time Bad Luck had finished, and began to scatter as soon as it was announced the competition was done. Afterward, Shane gathered his two companions and Number One Groupie, (Maggie) for a collective pat on the back.

"We did as greatly as is for us!" The singer chirped happily, and danced around as he helped pack their things.

Even Sullivan didn't bother fighting off the titanic grin spreading across his face, "I'd point out that this is only the second time we've done anything public ..."

"Don't bother." Hilary interjected carelessly as he packed his guitar in its case, "We won't listen."

"La di da, spotless display, we did play today of all days!"

Maggie rolled her eyes amidst her work, and as she watched her older brother swing circles around the speakers and amps, "I always knew he was on something."

Bad Luck's guitarist chuckled lightly, "Whatever it is, I'd like some."

Shane stopped his rejoicing and scowled unappreciatively, "Funny." He sarcastically grumbled, and began to load an amp on his dolly.

Sullivan took this opportunity to hesitate after he was finished with his own packing, "Hey, I'll be right back, I need to use the bathroom. Will you get it Hilary? I'll get the rest."

The redhead nodded, before leaning his black case against the wall they had parked against; Sullivan's keyboard sat behind it. He moved to grab the handle of the small cart and began steering it toward the door they had entered in.

"Why did the officials have you bring all this stuff anyway?" Maggie asked as she hoisted once again tangled cords onto her shoulder.

Shane shrugged, "Something about gauging how long it took us to set up ..." His expression demonstrated that he thought it was a silly reason too, especially for a diminutive two hour show. Hilary, Shane and Maggie made small talk about the topic as they went out to their van.

--

"Not bad, considering we met barely three months ago." Mark stated contentedly as he busied himself with packing.

Both Ken and Taylor made offhanded humming sounds of agreement, while stacking sound equipment into two unorganized piles. The three waited until almost all of the other bands had removed themselves to make their own exit.

"Think we'll ever do this again?" Ken inquired pleasently as he lifted his keyboard, seeming nonopposed to the prospect.

Taylor shrugged, before he paused as he saw Bad Luck was leaving with half of their things. "I dunno, wouldn't mind it myself, really." He comment, though it was apparent that he wasn't really paying attention to the conversation.

Mark frowned slightly as he saw Taylor's attention waning. He had learnt that when Taylor fell silent, it meant either he was sick or thinking too hard. Taylor seemed to believe that he was some sort of genius but he was painfully easy to read, and Mark's suspicious instinct was being aroused just enough for him to watch the shorter boy more closely. He couldn't let on that he was being leery though, and decided to play the Ignorant card. "I third it!" He piped cheerfully, "But we need a lot more practice; I'm surprised we made it so far ... successfully."

Ken said some agreeing statement, of which the dark-haired singer completely ignored. He stopped by the exit door, and shifted the speaker currently in his arms, "Hey you guys go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute."

Ken nodded and continued, but Mark stammered in his walking, "Where you going?"

"The crapper." Taylor crudely scowled, set down his load and began his short trek toward the direction of the lavatory.

Neither Mark or Ken noticed that their other band mate never arrived to where he said he was going, because young Ainsworth turned heel and made a beeline to Bad Luck's remaining equipment as soon as the other two were out of his sight.

--

Hilary looked up as he arranged things when he heard much frenzied shuffling around near the front of the van, "What's wrong?"

"Dammit ..." Shane could be heard muttering, "I think I left my microphone inside." He removed himself from the vehicle and waved over his shoulder as he headed back to the Theatre, "I'll be right back!" The singer called, "I'll see what's with Sullivan too!"

"Okay!" The older guitarist responded, and returned to his business.

A few minutes later, Maggie hummed lightly from Hilary's right side, "You know Hilary ..." she started coyly.

The other made a grunting noise in his throat to let her know that he was listening.

"As asshole-ish as Taylor is, his guitarist is really cute."

That was enough to earn a pause, and a turned head from Hilary. Coincidently, ASK's car was across the lot, and Maggie had a perfect view of all three from where she was standing with both side doors wide open. The redhead frowned a bit prudently, "Oh, like I would know." He was obviously not about to agree with her.

The brown-haired girl laughed, and girlishly tugged one of her pigtailed braids, "Guys can tell if another is attractive; that doesn't make it weird."

"Yeah, well if I just randomly said, 'Hey, that guy over there is handsome', it might raise some suspicions." Hilary stood straight and dusted his hands on his jeans, "It's different for a guy." He added pointedly, and began to walk to the opposite side of the van to finish Shane's haphazard handy-work.

Maggie only grinned devilishly, "Well, do you think he's attractive, in a non gay way?"

The older boy leaned forward with his hands on the grey carpeting and stared at her suspiciously, "See, if I say 'no', I'll be accused of not being able to tell the difference between ugly and not." He lifted a finger and shook it at the girl as though scolding her, "But if I say 'yes', that leaves me open for all sorts of unwanted teasing, and you'll probably announce to everyone at school that I think Mark Kurt is cute. Either way, you've backed me into a corner." Hilary smirked suddenly, "Congratulations, you've stumped me for what's the right answer."

The playful one giggled and clapped her hands together at sight of her victory. She had actually managed to confuse him, what fun! "You answered right anyway! You think he's attractive, but your masculinity won't let you say -that- out loud, so you answered in a round-a-bout way." Maggie held up two fingers, "A plus for tricky answers!"

Hilary's face changed to one of confusion as he obviously mulled over his answer again, then he laughed and grinned at the amazingly bouncy girl. "So can we change the sub -- what the?"

Seeing her companion appearing completely bewildered at something over her shoulder, Maggie turned, only to have the same precise reaction. "Strange ..." She stated slowly, "Should we go after him?"

Hilary nodded silently and slammed the van doors closed, before he and Maggie took after the distancing figure that appeared to be a suspiciously fleeing Sullivan.

--

He wasn't sure -why- he was doing it all. In fact, any voice of reason that might have scurried its way into his mind was, and would be promptly ignored. True reason was against him, and his actions were perfectly sustained by his personal logic. What logic was that? It was most likely something unknown and evil lurking within every human that happened to find its way through weak Taylor's weak self-resolution. Deep, deep in his subconscious, he knew perfectly well that his reactions were completely unreasonable, but it hardly mattered. All that was important was that he indulge in every emotion of the moment, and make sure that he was satisfied when something of displeasure came about.

Logic and all of its vexations were pushed aside, especially when he learned that somebody was willing to help him. So when the young man saw a situation set itself up, and saw that his current nemesis was heading to a near-empty warehouse alone, the blackness in his mind began to weave itself into twisted plots. It never once occurred to him to resist the little pricking in his heart that made him hate, and this was the beginning of his downfall.

"Hey, you guys go ahead without me; I want to walk home."

Taylor failed to notice the disapproving glance from Mark. "You sure? I'll walk with you --"

"No. You two go." The unintentional gruffness in his voice surprised both of his mates enough for an brief exchange of expressions.

"See you then." Came the reluctant, conceding dialog from both associates, but their voices were too far away for the inattentive one to take heed.

A response was too much to expect from the thoughtfully distracted Taylor. When the crowded car had driven it's away, Taylor set his eyes on his goal, and set aside any restraints he had on it. Now was the time ...

'Do it now ... or you'll lose your chance ...'

--

TBC ...


	9. Vigilante

b **AN:** /b Don't take this New Aged stuff seriously: I'm practically making up my own religion in this fiction. I don't believe any of it myself, so I ask you not to either. I believe the scattered lyrics are from Dirty Joe and the Fish

And yes ... shame. Shame to all of you who are reading, and not reviewing. Why ... I should delete this entire story! No ending for you! (I forgive you though, rebelyell59 ... but I'm expecting cake as your repentence) --

-Cookie- l Tohma 911 l - Umm ... thanks ...:reads profile: Oh ... I understand ...

Reese - :pet: It's all right ... thank you for tolerating the names this far.

Ashcat - Thank you for reading AND reviewing; and no, unfortunately Maa and Ken won't be showing up again, so their names were just changed enough to fit with the rest of characters.

A New Hotness - I'm sorry I've ignored you ... I keep forgetting about mediaminer, (no excuse) but thank you for reviewing if you're still reading. ; :extra cookies for you:

Roses & Heart Chocolates for everyone You'll see why

Maiko Shindou- (13) Maggie Shoeman

Shuichi Shindou - (16) Shane Shoeman

Ryuichi Sakuma - (17) Ryan Satterfield

Hiroshi Nakano- (17) Hilary (Hi) Nathan

Tatsuha Uesugi- (? looks 16) Thaddeus (Tad) Understold

Eiri Uesugi - (? looks 22) Eric Hueman

Tohma Seguchi - (?) Tohma Seguchi

Mika Seguchi- (--) Mira Sears

Suguru Fujisaki - (15) Sullivan Fulk

Taki Aizawa - (18) Taylor Ainsworth

Ma-kun - (--) Mark Kurt

Ken-chan - (--) Ken Chandler

Noriko Ukai - (18) Nova Upton

Claude K Winchester - (?) Claude K Winchester

Sakano - (28) Mr. Sakner

Yuki Kitazawa - (--) Yale Kitterman

Ayaka Usami - (?) Ayaka Usami

Vigilante

Upon the third hour of being subjected to K's tedious scrutiny, Eiri discovered the strangest song was repeating itself in his mind.

'One, two, three, what are fightin' for? Shut up, I don't give a damn! Hurray it's Vietnam!' This was odd, since he never once had anything to do with Vietnam ...

'Five, six, seven, open up those pearly gates!'

A tired groan caught his attention, "Are you sure that's all that you can think of?" The taller blond asked wearily.

With an indifferent quirk of his eyebrow and an irritated grunt, K had a, 'positive' response.

The disbelief was evident on his frustrated face, "Okay!" the boisterous man began cheerily, "So we'll start with the beginning, again." and then he thrust a pointer at a scribbled on chalkboard.

Eiri was still trying to figure out why there was an empty classroom setting floating around in Heaven. Perhaps in was symbolic, maybe the dead were to continue learning after life ... why was he sitting a desk stacked with folders again?

K's booming voice interrupted his deep thinking, "You show up along side with Thaddeus, and?"

The harried man sighed and shifted his chin into one hand, "Nothing eventful happened until that Taylor guy showed up." he recited in a slightly annoyed monotone.

"Yes." The long-haired one agreed, "Before that Sullivan and Hilary arrived too. After that Thaddeus told you of the demon reports, but still nothing happened."

"Correct."

"So we can cancel out Taylor for being a demon, because the report happened -before- he arrived."

Eiri frowned as he found this information a bit contradicting to his own, "But Thaddeus told me about them after Taylor showed up."

"Yes, but the actual reports were beforehand. Thaddeus probably waited a bit to tell you."

Eiri remembered how hesitant the boy had been; it made sense that he would have waited at least a week to tell him about the reports. "Okay, you're right. What next?" He assented reluctantly.

K stared at the chalkboard as though it held the answer he needed, which coincidently, he was sure it did. "We made sure Hilary and Sullivan weren't possessed by some malicious spirit; Hilary twice, and Sullivan once. We checked Taylor three times, but it turned out his aura had only been heavily tainted over the past week, not possessed."

Eiri's frown deepened into a scowl, "Wait, you didn't tell me that part."

A surprised expression was thrown in his direction, "I didn't?" K asked, disbelieving.

He rolled his eyes, "No, you didn't." The blond quickly turned the subject back to its course, "Taylor's aura was tainted after he had come from England? Within less than four months?"

"Yes."

"After Sullivan and Hilary showed up?"

K's eyes narrowed thoughtfully, "Yes actually, now that you mention it." He picked up a thick folder off of the school desk that Eiri sat in, and flipped through it until he found a certain page. "Taylor was actually a good kid, then when he was fifteen his aura began getting darker - which isn't unusual for teens - when he came to America it practically changed from blue to black."

Auras: unseen energy given off by the human body. Each aura has a colour that can change, and the darker the colour is, the more evil the spirit. Only newborn babies are known to give off pure white auras, which commonly turned light grey from age Year, on up. Usually people's auras are relatively neutral, leaning toward a darker colour but never truly neutral. It takes a special person to be completely one of three main colours: white, neutral/grey or black.

"What had been Hilary's?" Eiri inquired as his face began to show thought.

K flipped through another file that layed on Eiri's desk, "A little lighter than neutral. He didn't change at all after he came from California."

"And Sullivan's?"

The taller man picked yet another folder, "... very close to neutral, leaning toward dark but ..."

Eiri made a curious noise in the back of his throat when K trailed off his sentence's path. The other frowned at the folder in his hands, before he turned and lay it on Eiri's crowded desk; Eiri stared at the page on which the folder was opened.

A neatly created chart labeled, 'Weekly - Monthly Aura Rates' complete with a dated line-graph that stood on a horizontal page. For the most part the line stayed between the Y axis, but twice it suddenly reached the top before zig-zagging its way back down to the middle on the same day.

Eiri vaguely wondered if they had records of his heart beats since birth, or how many times he had washed his hair, or perhaps what his favorites foods had changed to. 'Probably.' He thought wryly, but the concern now was why an aura would suddenly go completely black so spastically. "So, does this mean Sullivan is possessed?"

K tapped his chin as he considered the new facts, "No, but a demon could be moving in and out of his body for short periods of time. That would explain the dark aura spurts ..."

"It's still working through him, but not living through him." Eiri concluded without a hint of distress; it was merely a fact that had happened.

"Right!" K cried happily, "The demon most likely chose the most inconspicuous host, knowing that we would focus on whoever was more likely to cause a confrontation!" The tall blond slammed a fist into the opposite palm as his brain steadily placed all of the puzzle pieces together. "If the demon -isn't- working through Sullivan directly, it might be using him to influence another." He paced restlessly and bit on his thumb, glancing occasionally to Eiri to make sure that he was listening. "In that case, someone probably gave the demon orders since they usually can't do anything on their own, but this still means that Sullivan is the host."

"Could Hilary be affected? We missed Sullivan so we could have missed Hilary." Eiri pointed out, and was rewarded with an agreeing nod and the shuffling through yet another folder.

"Nope. Absolutely nothing out of the ordinary." K said a bit triumphantly, "That leaves Sullivan." He looked at the one still sitting in a student chair, "All we need is one more little proof and we'll be able to act on it."

Eiri tapped his fingers against his desk before shifting backward and crossing his arms, "The band's rehearsal." He stated pointedly.

K appeared confused, and obviously required more explanation; Eiri obliged. "Shane and his friend Ryan got into an argument during their band rehearsal. Sullivan was supposed to come and watch if I remember, but Shane thought he never showed up. Sullivan later told him that he did hear them, but Shane being the stupid boy he is didn't think to wonder why Sullivan never just came out into the open." The narrating blond smirked in a self-satisfied manner, "I remember feeling -something- lurking around the side of the house, but I was so focused on making sure that Shane wasn't going to hurt himself I didn't think about it until later. How much you willing to bet that was Sullivan?"

The grin that spread on K's face nearly reached his ears, "My halo and rights as an angel. Congratulations!" He said with a heavy slap on Eiri's back, "You just helped to figure out one of many mysteries! Sullivan, at this very moment, is probably scheming to do something terrible to Shane, eventually leading to his untimely death!"

Eiri didn't react for a moment as he took in what was just said to him. His arms fell into his lap, and he then said dully, "Wait, and the demon probably knows I'm not there to protect him right now."

"Probably." K confirmed cheerfully.

"And only we know to do anything."

"Correct."

"So if we don't get moving someone's probably going to die."

"I think already said that."

The mysterious wind that swepted through that particular little room in Heaven which held only two people, stressed their silence as neither moved from their standing or sitting spots. "We should probably get moving." K vouched in a voice somewhere between amused and deadpan.

"Yeah."

As they took their leave, Eiri couldn't stop the feeling of worry that spread over him.

--

When Shane entered the theater again the only people remaining were a few janitors and employees who were locking up restrooms and double-checking money boxes. The room backstage was barren, with the exception of some diffused papers and miscellaneous trash, but the scatterbrained boy still searched around the obviously empty place, frantically seeking his lost microphone and stand.

'Dammit ... right when they're about to lock the place up on me ...' Finally figuring that it wasn't hiding underneath a table or in a trash can, Shane stood in the center of the square room and huffed irately.

"Maggie didn't pick it up," He thought out loud, "and Hilary and Sullivan's hands were full; where is that prick anyway?" The pink-haired singer pouted as he realized everything important was becoming lost. No matter, maybe Sullivan left through a different exit for some unknown reason.

He double-checked the room once again, twice and another third time before inspecting the restrooms on the offhand that his precious equipment would be located there. No such luck, and he had just figured one more look around couldn't hurt when he saw a notable black cord leading from the section of stage blocked from his view, to a speaker on the stage's right.

'Oh, duh! You left it on stage!' Shane grinned and hurried his way up the side steps and to the spot that he had just left barely forty minutes ago.

The main room was grey, red and empty, and the metal ceiling ws arched high enough that any movement resounded much louder than it truly was. Shane hummed a few notes just to hear, before he gave himself a private smile and set to the task of unplugging his microphone. He followed two cords that led from the stand to their respective outlets, and knelt down to find the correct wiring. "Go figure I'd leave it on stage." He chastised himself as he released one cord from a speaker, "Hilary's going to go on about this when I tell him ..." Next was the other wire ...

"I have to keep my stuff organized more ..." The boy grunted as he attempted to pull an adaptor plug from the wall next to the speaker, but it only wiggled reluctantly. "C'mon you ..." Shane moved from his squat to his rear and began to fight with the most likely bent metal.

The annoying adaptor seemed determined to remain where it was, so he set his feet on either side of the socket and began pushing against the wall, "COME OUT!" he yelled at the stubborn inanimate object.

No matter how many times he pulled or how roughly he did so, the little black box stayed attached to its given place on the wall - this was problematic.

The growl that left Shane could have almost been described as feral. "You WILL come out," He glared at the adaptor, "Or I'll ... I'll buy another one!" With another violent yank to the cord, the plug did not leave the socket. "DAMMIT!"

An unmistakable 'thump' of a door closing caught the frustrated one's attention, and he paused to look over his shoulder and into the empty room behind him. A pout formed, and the unconscious tears abruptly stopped at the corner of his eyes as he listened.

'Probably just the owner coming in to check the place ...' He considered after a moment, and then returned to his pointless argument.

--

He could hear the other's curses and grunts over the concrete wall that separated the main rooms and the side hallway. Upon re-entering the building, Taylor observed that there was only one janitor left sweeping up the junk off the floor, and he had headphones over his ears, so Taylor he slipped passed the unaware stranger unnoticed.

'Perfect ... this is too perfect; I can't believe this is playing out so perfectly.' He grinned and slipped a hand into the pocket of the oversized sports jacket he had on.

'I'll just scare him a bit, not hurt him ... unless he throws the first punch of course.' The grin spread itself, 'And then I'll give him a bloody nose and call the cops to boot! Either way, I'm going to win this ...'

He had a plan, and it was going so flawlessly that Mark's already insignificant warnings against 'scare tactics' were fading into nothingness. Taylor was almost giddy with excitement; nothing could ruin his scheme!

However, he knew that his plan was more than an adolescent play. If he messed this there could be dire consequences, and everything he planned would be a waste. -He- would be a waste, sent to the nearest trash bin to rot with the grimy lot closest to his kind, because everything in mind was horribly illegal, and had to be handled with extreme care.

'I won't screw up, I can't ...'

Inside he was trembling, half terrified, half anticipating of what he was about to do. This was not to be a hinderment though, and Taylor felt himself focus when he saw a mop of pink hair thrown back as its owner's legs pushed against a wall.

"Come ... out ... you ... piece ... of ... shit ..."

Shane possessed a lack of breath, and gasped at his latest attempt to remove his amazingly stubborn adaptor. He stared down at it very close to truly crying, and the stretched cord attached appeared to be nearing a breaking point. "I can't fucking believe this ..." He whimpered, then jumped when a hand was suddenly blocking his view of the infernal box.

With a few wiggles and couple of tugs, out it popped from its socket, and Shane was being presented with what he couldn't budge for a good ten minutes. Glancing up, the last person he expected to be helping him was staring down at him.

"Thanks ..." He mumbled, and took the plug from Taylor's outstretched hand.

The black-haired boy raised an eyebrow as Shane scrambled to his feet and went to his microphone stand, still placed in the center

stage. "That didn't sound very thankful ..." Taylor didn't bother hiding his smirk as his adversary visibly tensed.

They remained silent for a few heavy moments.

"Look," Shane said with a touch of exasperation, "I just --" he paused, and started wrapping the black cords into a neat bundle, before releasing a breath and making an attempt at a smile. "Good job today, ASK did good. And I wanted to say good luck, and I hope you get a decent score." There, simple without sounding sarcastic.

The statement threw Taylor a bit off his path, and he took a moment to consider the possible peace offering. "That's nice of you." He stated dryly, and shifted the hand still buried in his jacket, "But I still want to, 'talk'."

Shane knew he had every right to be worried when he saw the malicious gleam glittering in Taylor's eyes, and venom drenching his entire persona.

--

Hilary had severely underestimated Sullivan's abilty to run. Gasping, panting and almost weezing, the tired red-head had abandoned Maggie at least six blocks back because she couldn't keep close: giving up this little chase seemed a pleasent idea at the moment.

In the back of his mind Hilary worried that Shane would be confused when he realized they weren't at the van, but capturing this amuck Sullivan seemed more important, and the guitarist forced himself faster.

'I shouldn't have given up track in junior high ...' He regretfully thought, 'Maybe I'll join again ...'

All ideas of school left his mind as he saw Sullivan take a sharp right turn around a brick building, and he fought the urge to sob as his chest heaved heavier.

--

"Hold it ... hold it ... THERE HE IS!"

"Where? I don't see him."

"There! Let's go get the slimy little bastard!"

Eiri still didn't know what K was aiming for, when he was rudely grabbed by the wrist and pulled off the top of a six-story, brick apartment building. As they fell, a short boy running as though his rear was burning in extremely torrid flames, suddenly dashed beneath them just as K was about to land on top him. There was a brief moment of worry that the boy would panic, seeing as a pair of men were about to drive into him, and then Eiri remembered that Sullivan more than likely couldn't see their descent.

In fact, K passed right through the running human as he landed while still holding on to Eiri's wrist. The shorthaired blond felt himself winded with the impact on the cement, and watched dazedly as Sullivan gasped and tripped over - unconscious and face down on the sidewalk.

The blond paused studied his handy-work for a moment, and noticed that a cell-phone had skidded from the boy's hand when he had fallen; K bent over and retrieved the technology.

" ... thank you for your anonymous tip off of drug possession," A professional woman voice stated, "The police will be right on it."

K stared at the phone before he silently turned it off. With a shrug, he dismissed the event and triumphantly grinned at the object beneath his feet, "Yes! A shadow demon, of course."

Writhing under his finely tailored and shiny black shoes, was at first glance, a large shadow attempting to reach its way from its owner.

'It's like something gone wrong from Peter Pan ...' Eiri thought wryly, and only stared as the other stomped on the shadow with his free foot until it stopped struggling.

"Okay ... a little bit of water ..." K smiled and pulled a clear diamond shaped vile from his trousers. He opened it and carefully tilted the container so that a single drop spilled out, and onto the shadow that wasn't his; it disappeared into a thin of vapor of smoke.

The tall blond turned and faced a silent Eiri, "Holy water --" He started to say, then hesitated abruptly when pained gasping could be heard around the corner of the building.

An extremely worn Hilary stopped when he saw Sullivan laying on the sidewalk, "What happened?" He gasped, flushed and sweating and slightly relieved but mostly worried.

K chuckled and bent to retrieve the unconscious body, "Oh, me and my friend here were walking when this kid just suddenly turned the corner and ran right into me."

Hilary raised an eyebrow, and walked closer to study his friend, "And that knocked him out?"

"Out cold!" K said just a bit too cheerfully, and then quickly dumped Sullivan's body into Eiri's not expecting arms, "Why don't you help him carry this kid? I have to ..." He paused as he thought of an excuse, "go to work. Yes, I have to go to work, and this one here seems a little tired."

"I can carry him --" Hilary started, only to be interrupted by Eiri.

"It's okay, I'll follow you." The blond grunted, and began walking without giving Hilary a chance to protest. The redhead sighed, and started back to the Theatre with two extra people in tow.

"Hurry!" K called to their retreating backs, but only Eiri caught the honest urging tone in his voice.

--

"Talk?" Shane repeated nervously, "Uh, sure. About what?" He smiled rigidly, and unconsciously tightened his grip around the microphone cords that he still held.

Taylor offered his own smile without expression and stepped closer in a show of intimidation, "Well, I suppose I wanted to talk about something I did."

The other boy frowned, definitely not liking Ainsworth's expression, "Yeah?" He stepped back with every advance Taylor made to make himself unwantedly closer.

The black-haired one nodded slowly, and his smirk spread in a self-satisfied manner, "Yes." He started carefully, and with acid dripping from his voice, "You see, there's a little something illegal in your guitarist's instrument. Something that the judges from this contest wouldn't really approve of." Taylor added as he continued moving forward.

It took Shane a moment to register the words completely, "You planted something in Hilary's guitar?" He asked incredulously, "You're trying to frame us!" The young singer stared at his rival in disbelief, and the microphone stand tipped over when he pulled the cords too far out as he still backed away. "You're sinking so low as to try and disqualify us rather than just play fair?" The pink-haired boy laughed humourlessly, "There's something fucking wrong with you."

Taylor's smirk faded with Shane's insult and was deftly replaced with a snarl, "Shut up brat. It's more than just a contest now." His voice rumbled threateningly, and then the next movement happened so quickly that Shane couldn't quite bring himself to say anything coherent.

'Wow ... it's shiny ...' Was the only thing he could even get through his mind, and had the situation not been making itself so dire, he would have laughed at his own lack of intelligent words.

"Not so smart now, are you?" Taylor sneered, and pointed his weaponry directly in line with Shane's skull.

Shane stared at the gun barrel gleaming at him, and his own fright inspired the giggles steadily hiccupping from his chest; he was scared beyond imagination - this was something that he had never experienced. "What? You're gonna shoot me?" He asked hysterically, "That's rich. I bet you don't even have the guts to pull the trigger."

Taylor's eyes narrowed, and his fingers twitched around the handle.

"I was right wasn't I?" Shane stated rhetorically as his smile spread, "You're pathetic, and you can't stand to have people talking down to you because you have to be at the top of everything." He giggled again, and put a hand to his mouth to try and smother the sound, "Is this the only thing that you could come up with? What a sad way to win; I feel sorry for you."

"Do you want shot boy?" Taylor growled, and shook his gun to remind everyone in the room who was the most dangerous.

Shane's eyes glittered, and he stared at the other with blatant challenge, "Like I said: you probably don't have the balls to pull the trigger." He sneered.

'He's getting to you ... don't let that happen.' But Taylor's mind was becoming so clouded with anger that his own advice strained through his common sense. 'I'll show him ... when I came Mister Worthington said that he never loaded the gun in his vault ...'

The people that he lived with as an exchange student kept a gun for protection against wild animals, and had told Taylor so. He found out where the safe was in the Worthington's room, and he had located the bullets currently in his pocket, but hadn't actually checked to make sure he would even need to reload the gun. He smirked wickedly at the obviously scared boy standing before him. and cocked the pistol arrogantly, "I don't have the balls? See you in Hell you little bitch."

Taylor pulled the trigger.

--

Eiri could felt dread building up inside his chest as the Theatre grew larger with their nearing. Hilary had finally managed to regain his breath, and Sullivan was showing signs of waking at any moment, but the blond's so-called 'angel sense' was tingling very, very uncomfortably.

"HILARY! You got him!" A brown-haired girl in pigtails cried, as she rushed up to them from the only vehicle in the parking lot. "What happened?" Maggie asked, and stopped in front of Eiri to inspect the still passed-out boy in his arms.

Hilary looked around distractedly as he explained, "I think he fainted from an asthma attack or something."

Eiri fought off the urge to snort at the boy's assumption.

The guitarist looked back to his friend's sister seriously, "Where's Shane?"

Maggie's eyes grew large, "Oh ... I don't know. He still wasn't back when I came back." She turned and started to hurry toward the building that she never saw her brother return from, "We should go check for him ..."

Hilary looked up at Eiri and pointed to their opened van, "Could you put him in there?" When the blond nodded, the redhead muttered a thanks and started jogging after Maggie.

_i 'Too late ...' /i _

Eiri was just setting Sullivan onto the floorboards when the most heart-stopping 'POP' echoed from inside the Key Theo Theatre. 'Oh hell ...' The angel practically dropped his cargo, "Please let that be a fire cracker." Eiri prayed before he turned tail and ran for all he was worth to the opened side-door of the building, and into the semi-dark cement hallway which reflected Maggie and Hilary's hurried footsteps.

The panicked blond felt himself tremble in the blackness, and halted as he heard the most horrific scream of rage from who sounded similar to Hilary.

"YOU FUCKING BLEW HIS BRAINS OUT!"

Everything stopped and sunk into a portal of pitch-black nothingness; time slowed and Eiri couldn't hear a sound, as he numbly retrieved a cell-phone from his jacket pocket.

"911, please state your emergency."

"Yes, I believe there's a situation at the town's theatre ..." When he was finished Eiri allowed the dial-tone to repeat itself with its repetitive beep, just to drown out the girl's sobs, and the sickening sound of a body not struggling as it was nearly beaten beyond recognition ...

Helplessness is such a terrible feeling.

--

END PART ONE.

--


	10. Interlude

Interlude

Interlude: 1) Anything that fills time between two events. 2) Intervening time or, rarely, space.

The space between, the emptiness between the main attractions. This was a place of simultaneous neglect and care that wasn't welcome, but wasn't rejected. There was no will to reject, for it was only a fact and nothing less. This was the empty place in which his soul was currently drifting aimlessly through: limbo.

He was there, he wasn't; he could feel, he couldn't. Life wasn't life, death wasn't death. Memories didn't exist so therefore he couldn't, yet there was awareness or everything and nothing.

There was no hope, there was no sorrow ... so what was there?

Nothing. Nothing was something, and this something was everything. There was no confusion, there was no absolution; there was no comfort, and there was no terror.

There was only the knowledge that he was passing, and that was fine. It was a fact and nothing more.

'What is this ...?'

Awareness. 

There were others like him, alone, wandering and accepting that they were doing so. They were in this place because they didn't exist, and they were there because they had something to wait for. It was enough to wait - it was enough to know nothing.

'Why ... why am I here?'

Then suddenly, questions arose and everything made sense simultaneously. His eyes could open and he saw this place for what it was, and he was happy to leave; he was next.

'Next for what? What happened?'

"NEXT!"

Why were his eyes open and all he could see was nothing? Nothing ... absolutely nothing: It was hideous.

"It's a reincarnation."

"Ah ..."

Shane tried to look beside himself and attempted to see why he felt so empty. All he saw was a mirror that stood adjacent, gazing back with no expression. 

'That's not me ...'

"That's why there are two ... go ahead and send him to be judged. They'll love having to go over this kid."

And then, there was white. At least it was something.


	11. Intermission

Intermission

He couldn't help that he felt guilty.

It prodded relentlessly at him, conscious nagging, saying mockingly that the boy's death was his fault, and that he could have done more to save him. Of course it couldn't have been helped; humans lived, humans died and how that death was achieved was in no way his fault. Emotions inspired reactions wether it be for good or bad, and in his charge's case, it had been to his extreme disadvantage.

Eiri tapped his foot testily, and stared at the stark white surrounding that was the 'Staff Lounge' for angels off-duty to rest in.

Clouds. There was nothing but clouds for walls; how annoying.

"EIRI! Where've you been?" As though he had never not been there, Thaddeus was standing before him with customary amiable-ness radiating from him; how annoying.

Eiri scowled and glared up at the boy from his sitting place, "Not now." he growled, and demonstrated his foul mood by making his face as unpleasant as possible.

The black-haired angel only cocked his head to the side and studied him; this was even more annoying. "What happened?" Thaddeus asked, and pulled a cloud-chair from the cloud-wall to sit beside the other. (Clouds could literally make any form of furniture, so the two could have made a couch and television should they have chosen)

The blond crossed a leg over his knee, and stared off into the distance as he considered telling the irritating one what had happened. "I said, 'not now." He repeated.

"Aw, c'mon! You tell me everything, I'm practically the only one you can confide in." Thaddeus grinned and jabbed Eiri with his elbow in the side. "What's got you so moody?"

When he realized the other wasn't going to leave anytime soon, Eiri looked away and relaxed his stiff posture, "That kid died."

Thaddeus' eyes widened with this new knowledge, and he chewed his lip before responding, "So? You've had people die on you before." He had to remain ignorant - completely, utterly, absolutely ignorant.

"I know," Eiri frowned. That was part of what was bothering him. He knew it shouldn't have been bothering him, so it was bothering him that it was bothering him, and it was bothering him that he don't know why it was bothering him. "This was different somehow ..."

"Don't dwell on it." Thaddeus stated sagely, "You'll only bother yourself, and won't be able to focus on the next assignment." His dark eyes smiled at the distracted other, and Thaddeus reached over and patted Eiri's shoulder, "Move on; what was he to you anyway? An object to watch after that's what."

Eiri found himself desperately wanting a nice case of beer; his frowned deepened and he leaned forward to thoughtfully set his chin in his hand, "Whatever ..."

Thaddeus leaned also and tried to get a better look at Eiri's face. "There's something you should probably--"

"Excuse me."

Both guardian angels jumped and looked up to see a messenger angel floating before them. He was small with a bag full of scrolls slung over his shoulder, and looked more like the god Hermes with his winged shoes instead of typical wings on his back. "Guardian Eiri?" The flitty messenger quickly asked both of them.

The blond leaned back with his arms crossed, and nonchalantly raised his hand.

"You," The messenger said, pointing at Eiri, "Have a summon by one of the Judges." He threw a scroll at the semi-surprised angel, who caught if effortlessly; the messenger almost looked dissapointed that it didn't hit Eiri in the face. "She looked especially happy to call you, so I suggest you watch yourself. You know what they say about those guys ..." The messenger snickered to himself, before disappearing with a quiet 'Poof!'.

Eiri glanced at the scroll in his hand, shrugged, then stretched as he stood. "I'll see you later I guess." He told Thaddeus over his shoulder.

The black-haired boy watched as the other vanished. A summoning by a Judge? That was odd, and Tatsuha knew that Judges were notorious for being thrilled to tell someone bad news about their fate. Generally they stayed to themselves, and were in charge of deciding if a person was going to Heaven or Hell, and if Hell, which level.

The messenger had said 'she' ... Tatsuha's eyebrows knitted together thoughtfully. There were only two females out of seven on the Judge's Panel, and they were ...

He started nervously chewing his lip again; this was becoming much too suspicious. Tohma had to know about it. Thaddeus stood from his cloud/chair, and set on his immediate mission to find the illusive little man.

--

"And so, we failed to save him and he is currently going through the placement process." K finished with a wearied sigh. "We did manage to get the demon, but since that was not on the priority list --"

"You ultimately consider this a complete failure, as do I." Tohma interjected thickly, his cheek resting almost lazily against a fist. His green eyes were narrowed dangerously, and it was obvious he was less than pleased with the current events.

K winced at the sharp glare; normally it wouldn't have bothered him, but this failure was his fault, and only his fault. He deserved any wrath he received from Tohma, whose anger could probably motivate wars to last centuries. "Yes sir, I'm sorry." The blond muttered with a low bow, "By the time we figured out what was happening it was too late."

Tohma's gaze only grew harder with this excuse, though he merely shifted positions and began disregarding the massive amounts of papers off his desk. "Because you know the situation behind this," He started calmly, "Are you aware of a certain someone's recent movements in the underworld?"

K, who hadn't stood up straight yet, glanced through his bangs. "Her?" He asked incredulously, "She's been idle for over a hundred years."

"Which isn't a long time to the dead and immortal." Tohma added offhandedly, "Really, was it so long ago?" The blond finished putting away his things, folded his hands neatly on the desk and cooly stared at the still bowing man. "Not long enough that anyone should have forgotten," He continued, "Certainly not me, and how much are you willing to bet that there's a grudge involved?"

K frowned thoughtfully, "Can you prove it? That she's been involved?"

"No. But I will." Tohma stood smoothly, and motioned for K to stand straight. "Stay here long enough for Tatsuha to come - he's sure to show up any moment, poking his nose into business."

"Where are you going?" K asked, as he turned enough to see Tohma opening his doors to the huge expanse of office.

"To get proof." The archangel said grimly, and disappeared without another word.

--

"Name." A strict male voice asked him.

He could only stare blankly, and respond as hollowly as expected from these strangers. "I don't know."

Shane! My name is Shane Shoeman!

'No its not.'

Above him sat seven people in a triangle shaped judge's booth. They were all dressed in black robes, and the one who sat the highest in the center held a thick volume book before him. The aged center judge frowned and peered over his spectacles at the pages, "Odd: two different nationalities for a reincarnation ... not unheard of though." 

The center judge studied the soul beneath him, before glancing at the six other judges sitting on either side of him. "For the first body, Heaven's Judges, what do you say?"

"Third Hell."

"Third Hell."

"Third Hell."

"For the first body, Hell's Judges, what do you say?"

"Third Hell."

"Third Hell."

"Fourth ... Third Hell."

The middle judge looked closer at the last judge on his left side, a woman. "You stuttered. Are there qualms about this one?" He asked her.

The soul being judged couldn't see her face, but he could feel at least one pair of eyes staring at him longer than was probably necessary.

"There are no qualms. Third Hell." The woman's voice confirmed.

The middle judge nodded and checked something off in his book. "Very well. For the second body, Heaven's Judges, what do you say?"

"First Hell."

"First Hell."

"First Hell."

"For the second body, Hell's Judges, what do you say?"

"First Hell."

"First Hell."

" ... First Hell."

The middle judge turned his attention back to the soul being judged, "Because of the circumstance of reincarnation, your memories will not be returned. Your punishments will be of equality to your sins, and in the near future, you will understand each punishment and sin, and will be allowed the chance of salvation or otherwise. We Seven have spoken. Do you have any questions?" The oldest judge asked tersely.

The blankness that disallowed the soul to speak suddenly lifted, and while there were hundreds of possible questions, only one stood prominent.

"One name was Shane ..." The soul stated numbly, "What was the other?"

After a brief hesitation, the center judge spoke. "A name is an identity, and while you have none beyond a name now, I will tell you your first.

"Shuuichi Shindou."


	12. Interim

AN: If you're skipping over the past two chapters (10 & 11), I ask that you go back and read them. This three-part interlude is meant to be read together. Thank you. --

Interim

Tatsuha was becoming livid. He couldn't find high or low of Tohma anywhere, and there were no more places to check.

"Stupid, disappearing acts ..." The boy grumbled to himself, "Show me to try and help out dead brothers ..." Why did he even try? Tatsuha wondered. It was obvious that Tohma did not want him involved in any way shape or form. It was obvious from the way he spoke, and from the way he constantly tried to dismiss Tatsuha. Well, the archangel might as well forget dismissing him, because Tatsuha's persistence was legendary once his mind was resolved.

He found himself standing in front of Tohma's office doors a second time.

Tatsuha took a deep breath, and reached out for the gold handle of a seemingly endless height of gold door. He pushed the suprisingly lightweight door open effortlessly, and he peered in meekly.

"Tohma?"

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

The sudden roar of gunshots rang in his ears, and Tatsuha reflexively 'EEP!'ed and ducked behind the door. "Please don't kill me!" The black-haired boy whimpered, only to notice a recognizable laugh. He looked again from his place on the floor, and saw K standing with his smoking gun still cocked.

"Hohoho!" The man chortled, "Even if I had got you, you couldn't have died!" The blond seemed to find Tatsuha's rightfully scared reaction eternally funny.

Tatsuha stood up and glared, "Well excuse me! As human, it's usually beaten into your brain that," He pointed at his chest, "Bullets bad! Bullets pain! Bullets death!"

K pouted and stared at his gun, "Aw ... that's right. You're barely over a hundred. You don't find death humourous yet." He shrugged and shot at Tatsuha again.

The younger jumped out of the way, "STOP THAT!" he bristled defensively.

K only chortled again.

Tatsuha spoke loudly to interrupt the raucous laughter, "Where's Tohma? I need to speak to him."

K abruptly stopped laughing, and thoughtfully rubbed his chin with the barrel of his gun, "Hmm ... I dunno." His smile was dismissive, "Anything you have to say to him will have to go through me for now."

The angel began to turn, "That's okay --" that's when a series of gunshots hit the door hard enough to close it. Tatsuha stared at K disbelievingly.

The man smiled brightly, "Special orders in your case."

'No way out ...' Tatsuha frowned, and began to reach for the door handle, when he saw K's trigger finger twitch. Despite the deceptively lighthearted grin, K was obviously serious about keeping him in that room. The boy figured he could just phase out, but the gunman would probably follow him: Tatsuha had to tell him what was on his mind. "Eiri got a weird summoning from one the judges."

K blinked, and looked at the other as though this was no big deal, "I know." He stated, "So?"

"It was from a woman, the messenger said."

"I know."

Tatsuha bristled again, "Does this not worry you at all?"

K cocked his head to the side and smiled brighter, "Tohma's on it. Why should I worry?"

Tatsuha found himself losing his temper, "Because it's probably from --"

"I know." This time the response was not bouncy, but voiced deeply and gravely, and harsh enough to make Tatsuha hesitate. "There's not much we can do, unless Tohma finds something illegal about a simple summoning. And knowing him, Tohma will find something technical to use against her."

Tatsuha's chest fell, "There's nothing ...?"

K shook his head, "There's nothing we can do for now."

"Okay ..." The younger sighed, and began to leave, only to have four more gunshots at him. "WHAT THE FU--"

K grinned, "Until I get word from Tohma, you're not going anywhere."

Tatsuha cursed, kicked the doors then let himself drop to the ground, where he crossed his arms and pouted like a child. "Dammit all ..."

--

'When the hell did Heaven get elevators?' They were very nice elevators, (clean, reflective and gold, just like everything else in Heaven) but non-the-less elevators. Eiri could just hear the bad synth-versions of eighties pop songs playing in the background, though that was just his imagination. 'This had better be good ...'

Though he didn't know what he would say if it wasn't. Receiving a summon from a Judge was usually a very serious event. They were known to be hermits, mainly because most of a Judge's time was spent ... well, deciding the fate of incoming souls. It was best to be polite at all costs.

Eiri watched the yellow elevator doors slide open. Before him was a darkness which echoed, silent and cold; this took him by surprise.

"Come in." A gentle female voice ordered.

He stepped forward, and light from the elevator instantly disappeared. Beneath his feet was black, above and to the sides was black, and the only thing that he could see was the faint outline of a dark grey desk. This room was the exact opposite of Tohma's office, and Eiri wondered if this was what a demon's work space was like.

"Don't be shy, come here."

He sensed a pair of eyes studying him, and instantly felt uncomfortable. Eiri quickly found that he had to focus on the dim silhouette, because if he tried to look around, he felt as though he might fall right through the seemingly non-existent flooring. The sensation was nerve wracking, and unbalancing.

When he finally reached the desk, Eiri was still aware of a scrutinizing gaze. The black room was silent.

Finally, that gentle, clear female voice spoke again, "Do you know why you're here?"

A simple question ... why did it feel so complex? "No." He responded.

An air of disappointment dropped around him, "All right." The woman said easily. Eiri realized that she was standing, and extending her hand. "Thank you for coming on time then."

He mechanically accepted the greeting, and for the first time, felt that he could look at her face.

Long brown hair pushed back with a headband, a plain dress, and a pleasant smile that felt fake, she was 'normal' looking. "My name is Ayaka, and I have a few things I wish to speak to you about." She stated politely.

Eiri nodded numbly, and watched her circle her desk to his side. "Why don't we go somewhere a bit ... brighter?" Ayaka proposed rhetorically, and gently lay a hand on his elbow.

They were standing on clouds. Eiri looked around, puzzled, and curious as to how it had taken a millisecond to get from Point A to Point B. "How did we ...?" He looked down at the young-seeming woman, who merely have him a neutral smile, and released his elbow.

She fluidly advanced a few steps, before stopping, and clasping her hands before her. "I'm afraid I've called you to discuss a bit of," She thought of the correct term, "an unpleasant topic."

Eiri raised an eyebrow, and resigned himself to watching the woman's back, "Oh?"

A head of brown nodded, though Ayaka continued staring forward, "It's about your latest charge, the one who died recently." She glanced over her shoulder, studying the indifferent man behind her, "What was his name?"

"Shane." Eiri answered dully.

A frown tugged at her lips, before she nodded in assent, "Yes, Shane. Perhaps you were wondering about his soul's fate." Ayaka turned again, as her eyes continued to bear into the blond, "Were you at all?"

Eiri felt a wave of neutrality wash over him, at instinctually sensing that she was trying to upset him, though none of Ayaka's actions hinted at aggression. "Not especially."

The frown deepened, and Ayaka's eyes darkened, "Well," she sniffed, "Maybe this will interest you; Shane had two souls when he passed, as you might have known from his records. Did this not make you curious as to who he was in his past life?"

Something was wrong ... Eiri shook his head, "It's none of my business Miss Ayaka. What's done is done, and who he was makes no difference to me." 

Ayaka's hands gripped each other before relaxing, "You think so?" she said thinly, "That's one thing I hate about people in limbo. They're always so content. Have you never wondered why you're here, or why you have no memories?" The woman tilted her head down slightly, staring at him pointedly, "Or why you've been having strange dreams?"

The fact she knew about his dreams, completely passed over Eiri's radar, "Not especially." He stated vaguely "Like you said; I'm perfectly content. It's not bad, not anything, but I have no desire to progress or digress from how I am."

Her threatening blue eyes narrowed, "Of course not Eiri-san." she spat.

San? What did that mean? "San?" He asked before he could stop himself.

Ayaka's eyes lit up, "Your name is Japanese. 'San' is the appropriate suffix. 'Tohma' is Japanese also, you never noticed?"

No, he had not. Eiri's eyebrows knitted together as he tried to put this information together: something wasn't letting him. " ..."

Ayaka stepped forward gracefully, and her smile turned into a satisfied smirk, "You see, Eiri-san, when you were alive, Tohma was your guardian angel."

Eiri's eyes widened.

Ayaka ignored him, "But he was never actually considered human, before his life or death. He gave up his position as an archangel to be able to be near you, because, he fell in love with you."

"But Tohma is still an arch--"

"He's not." Ayaka interrupted smugly, "Take a close look at his status. He'll be listed as 'Overseer', an angel who watches over angels."

Eiri pressed his lips together and fell silent.

"The reason people still call him 'archangel', is that no one lost that respect for him after he died on earth. If you ask Tohma," Ayaka's smirk widened, "He'll probably tell you that he lost his pure archangel body, but not give you an explanation as to 'why'."

Eiri tried to brush this obviously important information off, "So, he was my guardian. A small detail from my past life." he smiled, "It doesn't matter now."

Ayaka snorted, "He's the only reason you're not in true limbo right now. Him, and your brother Tatsuha begged God to not punish you. Homosexuality truly is a sin you know ... perversion, selfishness and gluttony all mixed into one nice package."

"I don't have a brother." The blond retorted weakly, trying to ignore her last words.

She had a response of course, "Oh, that's right, you wouldn't know Tatsuha. Maybe you recognize Thaddeus?"

Eiri felt his throat constrict, "What?"

Ayaka's eyes glittered, "He wanted to be with you, he was worried as to what you would turn in to after being stripped of your memories, but wanted to see non-the-less. Tohma helped him with that little fiasco."

There was nothing to say; Eiri only watched as the brown-haired woman revealed each little unbelievable detail.

Said woman smiled and began pacing thoughtfully, moving her hands behind her back. "Your family decended from a long line priests, you were next in line to take over for your father, but you refused for selfish reasons."

Eiri watched dumbly. "And those would be?"

"Ah! So you're curious now." She tittered, and clapped her hands together, "You wanted to be an artist, a poem writer. And you brought in a reasonable amount of money to your temple, but that wasn't the reason your father was angry with you. By the time you were twenty-two, you still hadn't married, purely to avoid being pushed further into priesthood. Your little brother was picking up for your slack."

Eiri remained silent, waiting for Ayaka continue, as he was sure she wasn't even close to finished.

He was correct.

Ayaka stopped pacing, placing herself directly in front of him, and meeting Eiri eye to eye. "I'm sure you're wondering why I'm even taking the time to tell you all of this."

Had she simply disappeared without another word, he wouldn't have wondered. He would have been a tad disturbed, but not curious.

She pushed on, "You see, Eiri-san, I loved you dearly, ever since I had been a little girl." Ayaka's eyes turned vicious, hateful, even more so than before. "You refused me for a boy! A boy!" She snarled, "And that's where Shane comes in."

'Shane ...' Eiri listened.

"Two souls," Ayaka spat, "and one is the one you claimed to love so much." She laughed dryly, "Well, you never said it aloud, but you sure went through a lot of trouble for someone who didn't care." Ayaka's voice dropped to a soft murmur, "I waited my entire life to marry you, and you declined me for him; I was so angry." She looked down beside herself, as if actually ashamed to meet Eiri's still shocked gaze, "So full of hate. I couldn't stand it."

She looked up again, her aggression renewed, "I still can't." Ayaka growled, "But you can't remember anything, can you?"

Eiri shook his head, for lack of mind to do anything else.

One feminine hand moved upward, "Then I'll help, and show what happened, and he will remember also ..."

Eiri jerked when a soft palm suddenly pressed against his forehead, sending a burning pain down his skull; he could only gasp.

Only her voice remained, soft, almost nonexistent, feathery and still dripping with hatred so quiet, it was of the worst kind.

"I'll show you why ... and why Shindou Shuuichi will die again ..."

Memories begun.

END INTERLUDE

AN: O.O It's done. I started this a year ago, as of November 28, 2004.

It's started. We're halfway through. I didn't think I'd get this far. :collapses: And what's that::cups ear: Is that a plot I hear?

Don't worry, I've thought it through, and it's not going to be a remake of Gravitation. I know it sounds like it right now, but I threw everyone off the first time didn't I? Yes, yes I did.

Sliefoxx needs to do major research, but I'm sure monkshood has nothing to do with marriage. I'm only assuming Papa-Uesugi would want Eiri to be married before taking any major responsibilities, because Eiri's the eldest son. Don't agree? I'm using Artistic Licence ™ ... even though I'm usually against it ... (Stupid licence ... should be outlawed ...)

MY PRECIOUS REVIEWERS! I ♥ you all ...

list here

I hope ya'll stay tuned for the next and last half of Guardian;

Part Two: Beloved.


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